SoftwareOne case study

Authentication Modernization gives Ahresty new levels of confidence

When Aluminum die-casting manufacturer Ahresty experienced problems with its on-premises Microsoft Active Directory, it turned to SoftwareOne for support. The engagement quickly evolved into a larger workplace security project involving an upgrade to cloud.

“SoftwareOne was able to take care of our project not only in Japan but also in other countries. Other vendors couldn’t do this and were limited to handling domestic sites so the project stalled with them. It was also really useful that SoftwareOne could provide English-language support with our overseas offices, for example with document translation and negotiations.”

Fumiko Miyahara, Project Leader, Ahresty

Headquartered in Tokyo and Toyohashi, where it was founded more than 80 years ago, Ahresty has 987 employees (non-consolidated as of March 31, 2024) and 5,590 employees (consolidated as of March 31, 2024), and several plants and offices in Japan, as well as overseas offices in the US, Mexico, China, Thailand and India. It is principally engaged in manufacturing die castings, aluminum alloy ingots, free access floor panels, and peripheral equipment for die casting machine, and provides a variety of products to automobile brands.

Improved security
Migrating to cloud-based authentication supports zero-trust compliance.
Optimized operational costs
Removing on-premises authentication and improve access efficiency.
Robust infrastructure for authentication
Consolidating IAM in the cloud provides new levels of confidence.

Client: Ahresty Corporation
Industry: Automotive, Manufacturing
Platform: Azure Cloud
Services: Digital Workplace Security
Country: Japan

IAM solutions workshop to boost knowledge

“We first requested assistance in resolving the on-premises Active Directory issue and then migration from ADFS to Entra ID,” said Ms. Miyahara.

As a result, Ahresty selected SoftwareOne as its partner for a larger security project – upgrading its legacy on-premises authentication structure (ADFS) to a modern, robust cloud-based solution using Entra ID. The planned end of support for ADFS at the close of 2023 was also a factor prompting Ahresty to act to modernize its authentication infrastructure.

SoftwareOne kicked off the project with a workshop that provided deeper insight into how Microsoft's identity and access management (IAM) solutions could help Ahresty overcome its challenges. The workshop was funded by Microsoft as part of Microsoft's MCI Build Intent program . It was run by SoftwareOne and sponsored by Ahresty’s Japan-based IT department, which was leading the project.

“When it came to migrating to Entra ID, the only information available to me was what I could find on the internet, and the standard support of Office365, which was not enough for me to understand all the parts,” says Ms. Miyahara. “The workshops provided me with a wide range of information, which was very helpful.”

Two business people standing in a hallway.

Migration to Entra ID

SoftwareOne helped Ahresty to migrate its legacy authentication infrastructure to Entra ID, a modern, cloud-based authentication infrastructure that supports zero-trust compliance.

In addition, SoftwareOne helped Ahresty to complete the transition to Entra ID for its domestic and overseas offices – covering a total of around 3,000 seats across several countries – before the end of ADFS support.

As a company with a global presence, SoftwareOne was able to proactively guide Ahresty’s locations on different continents to ensure a smooth migration process. The entire project was executed based on remote communication with Ahresty IT teams around the world. SoftwareOne also built roadmaps and established step-by-step approaches for Ahresty branches based on their specific individual needs for IAM and endpoint management. These covered the ADFS migration to Entra ID, as well as implementation of Conditional Access – Microsoft’s zero-trust policy for access control – and Intune, Microsoft’s cloud-based endpoint management solution.

The authentication structure with Entra ID has been implemented for all of Ahresty’s sites, and SoftwareOne continues to operate the platform while Ahresty uses SoftwareOne’s managed service with Digital Workplace Essentials for ongoing support.

Ahresty can now access controls from terminals using Conditional Access. Windows desktops and mobile device management are possible through Microsoft Intune. Users now have single sign-on with Azure AD Connect and Entra ID.

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After sharing the project’s goals with the SoftwareOne team, they conducted a build verification in our environment. By collaborating with SoftwareOne, we learned a lot about the design configuration. And, ultimately, the deployment for all users in the company went relatively smoothly.

Fumiko Miyahara

Project Leader, Ahresty

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By avoiding the security risk of continuing to use the old authentication infrastructure and moving its authentication infrastructure to the cloud, Ahresty has built a more secure infrastructure and moved closer to achieving zero trust. With Entra ID as its central authentication infrastructure, Ahresty has removed unnecessary on-premises environments, which has improved security and optimized operational costs.

Reducing the number of Active Directories (ADs) in the authentication infrastructure significantly reduced the security risk. The project also increased access efficiency for different user groups. This has helped to increase user productivity, especially where it was previously hampered by AD link failures.

By providing operational support for on-premises AD as part of the project, and optimizing Active Directory architecture, Ahresty has reduced its administrative burdens and the time spent on resolving technical issues. Implementing Conditional Access and Intune has also significantly increased the security of user access. For example, due to the discontinuation of legacy authentication on Microsoft's part, the third-party mobile device management (MDM) solution used for mobile devices was unable to support modern authentication and, as a result, access control. As for Ahresty's mobile device management, Intune's MDM management provides enhanced security and allows for secure use of Office 365 outside the office.

The robust and stable user authentication infrastructure has given Ahresty a new level of confidence in managing its IAM. The company has also entered into a support agreement with SoftwareOne, which will enable inquiries from overseas offices as well as from Japan.

In the past, inquiries from overseas offices were often answered by Japanese representatives, but not only was language a major barrier because of the need to respond in English, but there were also problems with questions about functions not used in Japan among the system-related inquiries. The company is now able to rely on SoftwareOne to handle all of their inquiries, which gives them a great sense of security and high expectations.