CLEVELAND, June 15, 2005 — Lenovo today announced that Kichler Lighting, one of the world’s leading decorative lighting fixture companies, deployed more than 300 ThinkPad notebooks and ThinkCentre desktops, complete with ThinkVantage Technologies, helping Kichler to drastically reduce IT costs, synchronize operations and further its commitment to customer satisfaction. A mid-sized, family owned and operated company, Kichler Lighting has transitioned to a more mobile computing environment, increasing its end-user productivity, while bringing a new set of challenges in data and hardware protection, deployment and technical support. With the lifecycle of the PC lengthening and the management of the PC environment becoming more complex, the costs and challenges associated with PC lifecycle management increase. Utilizing the full suite of ThinkVantage Technologies, Kichler is realizing both cost savings and an improved user experience across the full lifecycle of the PC. “Kichler is in the midst of a large technology initiative to increase the mobility and productivity of our employees,” said John Schindler, CIO of Kichler. “The ThinkVantage Technologies that we implemented address every challenge that comes with a large PC deployment, something that the other commodity-based vendors were not able to offer. These tools from Lenovo have helped improve the overall reliability of our IT operating environment, allowing us to be more efficient and cost effective.”
Lenovo Lights the Path for Deployment When deciding to upgrade and refresh its PC environment, Kichler chose tools that would ease the burden of image building, system migration and data disposal. By deploying ImageUltra Builder, a set of tools that allows users to consolidate the image and migration process into one update, Kichler has been able to bring its image building process back in-house, reducing the cost to build its image by approximately 75 percent. Kichler anticipates further time-savings throughout the lifecycle of the PC by eliminating the requirement to completely rebuild an image based on a new PC or change in configuration. As the old PCs are retired, Kichler no longer has to use a manual, low-level format to remove hard drive data before recycling the PCs. By deploying ThinkVantage Technologies, such as System Migration Assistant and Secure Data Disposal, Kichler decreased the amount of staff time required to migrate and dispose of important data by 50 percent.
Lenovo Leaves the Light On – All Secure With a large amount of mobile workers, Kichler required a vendor with proven data protection and recovery solutions. Each Lenovo PC deployed by Kichler includes the Embedded Security Subsystem (ESS) with preloaded Client Security Software, Rescue and Recovery and Active Protection System, each helping Kichler guarantee the safety of its data. Kichler utilizes ESS to secure its proprietary data through file and folder encryption, secure log-on and password protection. The deployment of ThinkPad notebooks and ThinkCentre desktops with ESS allows Kichler to replace the company’s use of RSA secure ID cards, providing additional savings. Before utilizing Rescue and Recovery, a suite of self-recovery tools, Kichler would incur courier charges and a three- to four-hour delay when a file needed to be restored from an off-site backup tape. On an annual basis, Rescue and Recovery will save Kichler an average of $26 per installed PC in retrieval charges each time a user needs to have a file restored on their PC.
About Kichler LightingToday, Kichler Lighting is the leading decorative lighting fixture company in the world. Founded in 1938, Kichler remains a privately held, family owned and run business staffed by people who understand decorative home lighting fixtures and who care about our customers. We’ve built our reputation on original, design-oriented, high quality lighting products at competitive prices, backed by the finest customer service in the industry. More information is available at www.kichler.com .
About ThinkVantage Technologies ThinkVantage Technologies are available on ThinkPad notebooks and ThinkCentre desktops and help make PCs less dependent on IT staff or user intervention for basic tasks such deployment, backup, maintenance and security. They free up users and IT staff to focus on competitive advantages in their business. According to industry analysts, costs associated with deployment, support and disposal account for approximately 80 percent of the entire PC lifecycle cost. More information is available at www.lenovo.com/think .
