Background
Huhtamaki is one of the world’s largest consumer and specialty packaging companies. With a focus and expertise in paper, plastic, films and moulded fiber, Huhtamaki offers products from stock custom designs to total packaging systems and solutions.
Huhtamaki has grown from a multi-industry company into a packaging specialist through more than 200 acquisitions and divestments since 1980. Huhtamaki’s head office in Finland is listed on the Helsinki stock exchange. The company has 15,000 employees working in 36 countries worldwide.
Ad-hoc patch management increases security risks
Huhtamaki’s Australian operation is dispersed widely across the country. There are 350 IT end users spread over eight locations including Brisbane, Albury, Melbourne, Sydney, and Perth.
A team of seven IT staff manage this infrastructure out of Huhtamaki’s head office in Sydney.
“The previous system we used for software deployment and patch management was very cumbersome,” said David Cohen, systems administrator for Huhtamaki. “It was a time consuming, four-step process just to update a security patch, and support for the product was non-existent. The experience was so unpleasant that we simply avoided using the old system.
“We’d wait until desktops or laptops were sent in for repairs and that’s when we’d update security patches. It was a very ad hoc process, which made us susceptible to viruses. Updating software and systems was also done irregularly, whenever we got our hands on a machine,” continued Cohen.
A number of end users began updating their own patches and software using Windows Updates. However, even though users thought they were doing the right thing, they were often unaware of exactly what they were downloading, which created further challenges.
“Someone would unknowingly install a JAVA or .NET upgrade which wasn’t compatible with our group policies or a particular application,” Cohen said. “We’d then have to spend time getting that PC running again, which was time-wasting.
“Additionally, when upgrading software on interstate desktops, we relied on an outsourced IT service to manage the installation, which was an expensive exercise.”
Huhtamaki needed an intuitive system that would allow it to remotely deploy patches and software updates, saving time, money and resources.
WinINSTALL makes it easy
Huhtamaki’s head office in Finland was also on the lookout for a new software deployment solution, and together with the Australian operation, spent four months investigating a number of different vendors’ offerings.
“We were looking for a solution that wouldn’t require a great deal of training, something very intuitive. A lot of the solutions we looked at made us feel like we’d need a university degree to get our heads around it. But, Attachmate’s WinINSTALL was different,” added Cohen.
“We could all see right away how easy WinINSTALL was to use; we could simply drag and drop new software onto target PCs and laptops for remote deployment.”
“We were impressed with the functionality of WinINSTALL, the price was in reach, and the Attachmate team showed great initiative in helping to ensure the solution was implemented properly. Along with the Finland office, we made the decision to go with the product almost on the spot,” said Cohen.
The initial phase of the local deployment took almost six weeks and according to David it was a “smooth transition.”
Managing assets more effectively
Since implementing WinINSTALL and beginning to update security patches, Cohen said Huhtamaki’s fleet of desktops and laptops is more secure, and the cost of upgrading software has decreased.
“WinINSTALL has also improved our asset management and inventory capabilities. It allows us to view the entire fleet on screen, and then drill down into information about specific desktops and business departments. We can then find out every detail about a particular machine from the amount of RAM it has, down to its microchips. This means we can work out remotely what upgrades need to be performed on each asset, and implement those changes without having to leave the office,” Cohen explained.
Huhtamaki is also benefiting from WinINSTALL’s reporting functionality. The ability to easily produce detailed reports on servers, PCs, and laptops allows Huhtamaki to effectively plan for future IT spending and migrations.
“Now that we can manage IT assets remotely we don’t have to invest huge amounts of finance and resources just to deploy software or security patches,” said Cohen. “This has reduced the cost of outsourced IT, accommodation and other travel expenses significantly.
“We’ve been able to free up internal resources to concentrate on more technical IT tasks, which has been a significant benefit, given we only have a team of seven managing such a large network. ”
WinINSTALL has also allowed the IT team to increase its efficiency,” Cohen said. “When an end user requests a new piece of software or an upgrade, we can get them to email a purchase order and then deploy the software while we’re on the phone with them. It’s so quick that end users are often amazed.”
“Additionally, we get much better support from the Attachmate team than we did with our previous provider. They’re very helpful and willing to go out of their way to refine the implementation for us. Attachmate also offers a very reasonably priced maintenance program that provides us with full phone support and on site maintenance,” added Cohen.
The future
Satisfied with the result of its initial WinINSTALL implementation, Huhtamaki is now looking to introduce Attachmate’s DOS-free PXE technology, which will allow the IT team to remotely set-up PCs that don’t have an operating system installed.
“One of the IT department’s performance objectives is to get the PXE technology operational within the next 12 months. It will mean that when an office requires a new PC we can have the hardware shipped directly to the site, and then get the local profile installed remotely from scratch, ultimately speeding up the process,” Cohen explained.
“In the past when setting up new interstate PCs, we’ve hired a technical support person to come in, build the PC and install the operating system and necessary applications. The PXE technology will allow us to remove that cost while speeding up the process.
“With Attachmate assisting us to improve IT efficiency in these ways, we’re also thinking about how its NetIQ range might help us refine internal processes even further,” Cohen concluded.