Lionbridge Reduces Costs, Enhances Security With Microsoft Virtualization
Microsoft company logo. (PRNewsFoto/Microsoft)
REDMOND, WA UNITED STATES
Company cuts hardware costs, saves more than $200,000, and accelerates provisioning in Virtual Cloud Lab datacenter.
REDMOND, Wash., Feb. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- By deploying Microsoft
virtualization and infrastructure software, Lionbridge Technologies Inc., a
$461 million (U.S.) translation, development and testing services company, was
able to save more than $200,000 last year, enhance security and accelerate the
use of customer services, Microsoft Corp. announced today.
Lionbridge services enable global organizations to develop and release
products and content in international markets. In today's challenging economic
environment, companies are relying on Lionbridge outsourcing services to
reduce costs and optimize their operations for long-term efficiency. In
addition, many of Lionbridge's customers derive more than half their revenue
from international markets with continued growth in emerging economies. To
help meet these customer demands, Lionbridge created and deployed Virtual
Cloud Lab, a globally accessible datacenter that is shared by engineers in any
of the company's sites, as well as by the company's independent network of
25,000 partners who are located in more than 100 countries.
Virtual Cloud Lab is an internal, cloud computing-based datacenter.
Lionbridge uses Microsoft's server and presentation virtualization software,
and systems management tools for centralized control of both physical and
virtual assets, and directory and remote desktop computing services for more
secure access to internal data and resources. The virtualized infrastructure
and centralized management enables all workers to access vital internal
resources, and the 100 percent virtual footprint has completely removed all
physical hardware requirements from branch office sites. Lionbridge has
replaced hundreds of servers and desktops with virtual machines hosted in its
internal cloud computing datacenter.
"Most of the Lionbridge core infrastructure has been migrated to Windows
Server 2008 with Hyper-V technology. Moving our local labs onto Hyper-V and
the Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager-based cloud platform has
saved us time and money," said Oyvind Kaldestad, vice president of Corporate
IT for Lionbridge Technologies. "We chose the Microsoft solution versus others
in the market because it was the most affordable, met the existing skills of
our employees and was enterprise ready. Moving to a virtualized environment
enabled us to save hundreds of thousands of dollars in 2008 alone due to
reductions in hardware costs, as well as associated power, cooling and manual
labor costs."
The Virtual Cloud Lab enables Lionbridge to provide more secure, global
access via software built into Windows Server 2008 with Terminal Services
Gateway with Terminal Services RemoteApp network software. The flexibility
allows Lionbridge managers to use experts who are not located in a particular
office, and contractors can work more securely from their homes at any time of
the day or night. By also deploying FalconStor Network Storage Server software
with the failover clustering capabilities built into Windows Server 2008,
Lionbridge can use different storage area networks between the primary and
disaster recovery site, achieving instantaneous disaster recovery in both
physical and virtual server environments.
"With Microsoft virtualization in both the server operating system and in
the holistic management tools, we're able to remove the barriers to
enterprisewide virtualization," said Zane Adam, senior director of
virtualization strategy, Microsoft. "Customers like Lionbridge receive a cost-
effective, easier to deploy, use and manage solution that gives them valuable
business agility."
Virtualization software allows businesses to pool computing resources to
drive down information technology (IT) costs, increase IT efficiency and be
more responsive to business needs. Virtualization enables enhanced IT delivery
models that businesses can use to create new modes of computing management and
delivery, and can fundamentally change how IT is managed and accessed.
According to Gartner Inc.*, "by 2012 at least 14 percent of the infrastructure
and operations architecture of Fortune 1000 companies will be managed and
delivered much like a cloud computing provider, internally."
Lionbridge Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: LIOX) is a $461 million leading
provider of translation, development and testing services. Lionbridge combines
global onshore, near shore and offshore resources with proven program
management methodologies to serve as an outsource partner throughout a
client's product and content lifecycle -- from development to translation,
testing and maintenance. Global organizations in all industries rely on
Lionbridge services to increase international market share, speed adoption of
global products and content, and enhance their return on enterprise
applications and IT system investments. Based in Waltham, Mass., Lionbridge
has 4,600 employees and maintains solution centers in 26 countries. To learn
more, visit http://www.lionbridge.com.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is the worldwide leader in
software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their
full potential.
* Thomas Bittman, 27th Annual Data Center Conference, Dec. 2-5, 2008
