Customer Profile

Greystone has been the IT partner for Alliance Disposables Ltd for over 12 years and has been instrumental in managing and supporting the rapid expansion of all aspects of their IT systems.

Business Issue

Alliance had several hundred desktop and laptop computers, spread across multiple sites, which needed upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 10.

Windows 7 goes end of life on 14/01/2020.

Not upgrading from Windows 7 before this date would you leave Alliance open to numerous security vulnerabilities and on running outdated and incompatible software.

They currently run a mixed hardware environment, with varying hardware configurations ranging from low spec PCs to high-end CAD workstations with many different hardware and software configurations

IT Solution

To make sure the deployment happened with zero impact on the customer’s ability to work, careful planning was required.  The following steps were performed:

• Audited all existing PCs.
• Checks made on existing hardware for Windows 10 compatibility.
• Planned, staged rollout to minimise disruption, and enable quick failback in case of errors.

We conducted a staged deployment with pilot groups to check all line of business applications worked appropriately and that customers were able to perform their day to day duties without disruption. The next stage was a per department deployment, with each stage undergoing rigorous automatic checks to make sure that new PCs were deployed correctly.

The migration was performed with no disruption to day to day activities and all before the

Where PCs were either not able to run Windows 10 or had reached the end of their usable life, we deployed new standardised PC hardware side by side to existing PCs.

Going forward, to keep up with the new Windows 10 updates, we have installed infrastructure to do the following tasks:

• Deploy automatic upgrades to Windows 10
• Deploy automatic security and operating system updates
• Setup a continuously updated deployment image for new PCs
• Use pilot and test groups to test future Windows 10 releases.

Technology Used

• Windows Deployment Services
• Microsoft Deployment Toolkit
• Windows Server Update Services
• Asset Inventory and Deployment software

Results and Benefits

Following this project Alliance now have a fully up-to-date and future-proof Windows 10 desktop estate. By standardising the desktop builds and centrally managing ongoing updates and patches we have reduced the management and maintenance overhead that was previously required to keep everything secure and up-to-date.