Windows 7Customer Solution Case Study

Firm Keeps Expressways Running Smoothly and Boosts Productivity with Software Upgrades

OverviewCountry or Region: JapanIndustry: Civil engineering

Customer ProfileHeadquartered in Osaka, Japan, Hanshin Expressway Company builds and maintains 245.7 kilometers (152.7 miles) of expressways in the Kansai region of Japan.

Business SituationHanshin Expressway wanted to improve worker efficiency with a faster and more advanced operating system. It also hoped to improve disaster preparedness, security, and mobility.

SolutionThe company upgraded its 1,000 computers to the Windows 7 Enterprise operating system. The company is using features in Windows 7 Enterprise to increase productivity, save money, and improve operations.

Benefits Improved efficiency Cost savings Enhanced security, disaster

preparedness, and mobility

“We’re seeing great improvements in productivity. It’s not always easy to see quantifiable results from an operating system upgrade, but the results were clear-cut in this case.”

Naoki Korogi, Information Systems Department, Hanshin Expressway Company

Headquartered in Osaka, Japan, Hanshin Expressway Company Limited is responsible for the expansion and upkeep of highways in Japan’s Kansai region, which includes several major cities. The company wanted to improve worker efficiency and productivity by upgrading its computers from the Windows Vista operating system to the Windows 7 Enterprise operating system. In addition to reduction of work hours through faster performance, the company plans to use features in Windows 7 Enterprise to reduce costs, simplify telecommuting, and strengthen the company’s disaster preparedness plans.

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SituationHeadquartered in Osaka, Japan, Hanshin Expressway Company Limited was established in October 2005 through the privatization of the Hanshin Expressway Public Corporation. Hanshin Expressway now manages an urban network of 245.7 kilometers (152.7 miles) of expressways in the Kansai region of Japan, which includes the major cities of Kobe, Osaka, and Kyoto. The company builds new roads and maintains, renovates, and repairs existing roads, upon which 860,000 vehicles travel daily. The mission of Hanshin Expressway is to contribute to the social and economic development of the region and to improve the lives of its citizens.

Technology is an important factor contributing to efficient daily operations at Hanshin Expressway. The company has approximately 1,000 computers that were upgraded to the Windows Vista operating system in 2007. Hanshin Expressway also uses the Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system, and in 2010, it used Hyper-V technology to virtualize its in-house server environment. The productivity applications in the Microsoft Office 2007 suite are another important part of the technology landscape.

In response to corporate goals to increase work efficiency and productivity, Hanshin Expressway began considering an operating system upgrade for all of its computers in early 2010. Although some IT staff members were initially reluctant to make such a major change, there was strong evidence in favor of the upgrade. “Looking at our productivity goals, we determined that the Windows 7 Enterprise

operating system would be the most effective way to deliver high performance with advanced features in all aspects of computing,” says Kazutoshi Hirano, Assistant Manager for Information Systems at Hanshin Expressway Company. “We also determined that the extended support period for our new operating system would bring down our operating costs moving forward. And Windows 7 Enterprise was the optimal choice for compatibility with our virtualized Windows Server 2008 R2 server environment.”

As Hanshin Expressway continued to investigate a possible upgrade to Windows 7, the company felt more and more convinced that it was making the right move. It was very interested in features such as BitLocker To Go technology for security, and DirectAccess to simplify mobile working and enable a more robust disaster preparedness system. In addition, it became clear that in order to make optimal use of the new operating system, it would be beneficial to also upgrade from Microsoft Office 2007 to Microsoft Office 2010 at the same time. With the decision made, it was time for Hanshin Expressway to move forward with the dual upgrade implementation.

SolutionThe Hanshin Expressway IT team began the initial phase of the upgrade project in April 2010. The first step was to evaluate the company’s existing hardware for compatibility with the newer software. The PCs were purchased in 2007 for the upgrade to Windows Vista, and the IT staff determined that the PCs would be more than adequate for Windows 7 Enterprise.

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“Looking at our productivity goals, we determined that the Windows 7 Enterprise operating system would be the most effective way to deliver high performance with advanced features in all aspects of computing.”

Kazutoshi Hirano, Assistant Manager for Information Systems, Hanshin

Expressway Company

The team did want to make one change, though. “We wanted to increase the hard disk capacity of our machines, so we decided that it would be the best of both worlds if we upgraded the operating system and the hard drives at the same time,” says Hirano. “This saves our system administrators a significant amount of time compared to doing the hard drives and software separately.”Upgrading the ComputersThe upgrade team began by preparing a set of test machines for an initial pilot deployment. After installing Windows 7 Enterprise, staff members performed overall system tests and also tested the company’s applications for compatibility. When Hanshin Expressway moved from the Microsoft Windows 2000 operating system to Windows Vista, the company had a number of issues with application compatibility. This time around, though, things went much more smoothly. “There were very few applications that needed to be modified,” says Naoki Korogi of the Information Systems Department at Hanshin Expressway Company. “In the past, we outsourced system upgrades, so we didn’t have a lot of in-house expertise, but the development tools provided by Microsoft and the support information available on the Microsoft website made it extremely easy.”

With testing complete, the upgrade team divided the company’s computers into eight groups and upgraded them one group at a time, beginning in November 2010. By the end of December, all 1,000 computers had been upgraded, and the process went very well overall. “When we actually implemented the migration, the

process went very quickly,” says Hirano. “We preinstalled Windows 7 Enterprise on the new hard drives, and the time required to migrate the operating system and hard drive at the same time was less than half the time we had envisioned.”

Hanshin Expressway users adapted quickly to the upgraded operating system. “We purchased Volume Licensing with a Microsoft Enterprise Agreement, which includes training privileges and other benefits,” says Hirano. “We provided training on new features for those people who were interested, but most of our Windows Vista users adapted easily to Windows 7 Enterprise and didn’t need any special training.”

Using New FeaturesHanshin Expressway found that Windows 7 Enterprise lived up to its expectations in terms of improved efficiency and support for better mobility. The startup time for individual PCs is several tens of seconds to several minutes faster than before, allowing employees to get to work much more quickly every day. Prior to Windows 7, employees used a virtual private network (VPN) to access the corporate network remotely. This presented a number of issues, including certificate renewals and ongoing operating costs. With Windows 7, Hanshin Expressway is going to use the DirectAccess feature in combination with Windows Server 2008 R2 to make mobile working more secure, enable telecommuting from anywhere, and reduce operating costs.

The Hanshin Expressway IT staff also found valuable features that they weren’t

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“We provided training on new features for those people who were interested, but most of our Windows Vista users adapted easily to Windows 7 Enterprise and didn’t need any special training.”

Kazutoshi Hirano, Assistant Manager for Information Systems, Hanshin

Expressway Company

expecting in Windows 7 Enterprise, particularly the Problem Steps Recorder. “The Problems Steps Recorder is a fascinating tool,” says Korogi. “It makes it really simple to report a problem with screenshots. We are also using it to create manuals, which allows us to get rid of the dedicated application we used to use, and this reduces our costs.”

Enhancing Security and Disaster PreparednessWith its upgrade to Windows 7 complete, Hanshin Expressway is now turning to more sophisticated and complex plans. Most regions of Japan are susceptible to earthquakes, and in January 1995, the Kansai region was hit by the magnitude 7.3 Kobe earthquake, which did more than ¥10 million damage (US$100 billion). Following that earthquake, Hanshin Expressway created a disaster recovery center that is designed to withstand mammoth earthquakes. By using DirectAccess in Windows 7 Enterprise, the company is creating an even more secure and flexible disaster recovery system.

“Hanshin Expressway is responsible for vital transportation infrastructures, and if a large earthquake hits, our staff needs to be able to access data and resources from home or other off-site locations,” says Daisuke Yabukami of the Information Systems Department at Hanshin Expressway Company. “With the help of our technology partner, Japan Information Processing Service Company, we built a system using DirectAccess that provides access to our outsourced data center in the minimum amount of time when disaster strikes.”

By using DirectAccess, Hanshin Expressway intends to bolster its disaster recovery center with an “integrated disaster recovery system” that is tied into the emergency backup system to help ensure that the data center continues functioning reliably if something occurs. Data is regularly replicated to the off-site data center, and if employees lose access to the corporate network during a disaster, they can still access company resources by using DirectAccess to connect to the data center.

Planning for the FutureHanshin Expressway feels that the upgrade to Windows 7 Enterprise has put it in a great position to enhance other elements of its IT infrastructure by using Microsoft software, including Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R3 to simplify software asset management, update programs, and improve help-desk functions. The company also sees a lot of potential in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010. “Currently, each division of the company has its own website, and they use webpage creation software and complicated FTP clients,” says Hirano. “This puts a burden on people who update the sites, and we have to conduct a lot of training. We’re considering installing SharePoint Server 2010 and migrating all of our websites to it. We believe that employees familiar with the Microsoft Office suite will find it much easier to share information, and it will remove some of the burden on our IT managers.”

The IT staff at Hanshin Expressway has already seen operability improvements with Windows 7 as a result of improved user

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“With the help of our technology partner, Japan Information Processing Service Company, we built a system using DirectAccess that provides access to our outsourced data center in the minimum amount of time when disaster strikes.”

Daisuke Yabukami, Information Systems Department, Hanshin Expressway

Company

account control (UAC). Administrators can easily set the security level, reducing the number of warnings. The company also has big plans for BitLocker To Go, which provides highly secure encoding of removable devices, such as portable hard drives and flash memory sticks. In the past, the company distributed portable drives that were encoded using a third-party application, and users needed to install the decoding application on their PCs to read from the drive. “With Windows 7 Enterprise, data encoding and decoding functions are contained within the operating system,” says Korogi. “So it is really easy to use encoded devices. We plan to get rid of our current tool and rely on BitLocker To Go.”

BenefitsHanshin Expressway has realized numerous benefits from its upgrade to Windows 7. The company has met its goals for improved efficiency and productivity, and it is using Windows 7 to boost security and better prepare for natural disasters. Along the way, the company expects cost savings in numerous areas.

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Improved Work EfficiencyA stated goal of the Windows 7 upgrade project was to improve workers’ efficiency by giving them an operating system that is faster and has more advanced features. “Our PC startup time has dropped significantly,” says Korogi. “The time savings is several tens of seconds to several minutes per computer. Multiply that by 1,000 computers, and we’re seeing great improvements in productivity. It’s not always easy to see quantifiable results from an operating system upgrade, but the results were clear-cut in this case.”

Cost SavingsAs a result of its companywide operating system upgrade project, Hanshin Expressway has found a number of ways that the new software is saving the company money. By taking advantage of the built-in features of Windows 7 Enterprise, the company expects to eliminate licensing costs for a number of third-party applications that it used for tasks like data decoding and encoding and VPN access. The improved performance and advanced features of the operating system are reducing the administrative burden on IT personnel, allowing them to use their time more cost-effectively on other projects, and the company is

reducing work hours through something as simple as faster startup times.

Better Security, Disaster Preparedness, and Mobile WorkingHanshin Expressway is using Windows 7 Enterprise—and in particular the DirectAccess feature, to improve the company’s disaster response scenario—and it plans to use the BitLocker To Go feature to simplify the encoding and decoding of data on portable storage devices. “Using DirectAccess frees you from geographic and regional restrictions on system use,” says Hirano. “Having an environment where you can access our main office network from anywhere makes remote working more convenient and flexible. This meets the needs of our employees for telecommuting, and it enables us to respond quickly and efficiently when disaster strikes.”

Windows 7Works the way you want: Windows 7 will help your organization use information technology to gain a competitive advantage in today’s new world of work. Your people will be able to be more productive anywhere. You will be able to support your mobile workforce with better

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For More InformationFor more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers in the United States and Canada who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to:www.microsoft.com

For more information about Japan Information Processing Service Company products and services, call (81) (3) 3630-6170 or visit the website at: www.jip.co.jp/eng

For more information about Hanshin Expressway Company products and services, visit the website at:www.hanshin-exp.co.jp/english

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

Document published March 2012

Software and Services Windows 7− Windows 7 Enterprise

Microsoft Office− Microsoft Office 2010

Microsoft Server Product Portfolio− Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010− Microsoft System Center

Configuration Manager 2007 R3− Windows Server 2008 R2

Technologies− BitLocker To Go− DirectAccess− Hyper-V

“Our PC startup time has dropped significantly. The time savings is several tens of seconds to several minutes per computer.”

Naoki Korogi, Information Systems Department, Hanshin Expressway

Company

access to shared data and collaboration tools. And your IT staff will have better tools and technologies for enhanced corporate IT security and data protection, and more efficient deployment and management.

For more information about Windows 7, go to:www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7

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