Imperial Tobacco has begun a six-month project to merge
itsWindows Active Directoryacross two
separate business units, as it gears up for further
expansion.
The company has been running two Active Directories since it
acquired German cigarette maker Reemtsma in 2002. But Imperial's
imminent acquisition of Spanish and French tobacco firm Altadis has
made directory consolidation a priority for the IT department.
"It would be very tricky to manage a third directory in the
company," said Greg Rocke, design and planning manager at Imperial
Tobacco.
The company, which owns the brands Davidoff, West, Drum, Golden
Virginia and Rizla, plans to migrate more than 3,000 users to a
combined directory.
Active Directory, a key component of Microsoft Windows server
operating systems, allows companies to control employee access to
data and applications based on their job role. It also offers an
address book that provides a single database of users on the
company's network.
Imperial Tobacco plans to use Quest's Reporter and Migration
Manager tools to manage the migration, and Quest's Recovery Manager
to provide near real-time back-up and recovery of Active Directory
during the project.
The directory consolidation will make it easier for users to
collaborate using shared folders. It will also simplify IT
management across the company. Rocke said, "By consolidating our
Active Directory infrastructure we are able to simplify our IT
environment. This makes it easier to install new software."
Active Directory consolidation also removes the complexity of
synchronising the company's global address book, making it easier
for staff to e-mail other users on the company network.