Statoil is a Norway-based energy company with upwards of 40,000 desktops running Windows XP. But not for long: the company, which operates across 40 countries, is in the process of deploying replacements, all of them equipped with Windows 7.

Needless to say, that's a pretty major undertaking. All the more reason to learn the reasons behind the move and the results so far.

Windows for Your Business blogger Rich Reynolds spoke with Statoil Lead Architect Peter Wersland to get some feedback on the Windows 7 deployment progress. Here's an excerpt:

Rich Reynolds: How do you approach getting approval on new projects? Any lessons learned?

Petter Wersland: In these economic times it is hard to get approval and it takes time for a significant project like this. We have noticed financial restrictions on new projects and in some cases projects have been postponed, but we're balancing that with investments for the future of our IT infrastructure. For example, the PC replacements we are planning company-wide were originally scheduled for this year, but now we have postponed them to next year. When moving to a new version of the Operating System, you'll need to plan time for application testing. We have about 1000 applications we support on the Windows Client and all of them needed to go through a formal testing process.

That's roughly 1/4 of the entire story, so it's quick read--but very informative for any CIO or IT pro still pondering the how and why of a Windows 7 deployment.

And in case you missed it, check out this related post: Making the Deployment Decision: An IT Pro's Thoughts.

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