As China accelerates its push for IT infrastructure independence, Ningbo Iron & Steel has teamed up with Leagsoft Technology to overhaul its enterprise identity management system. Powered by Leagsoft's proprietary XCAD (Extended Chinese Active Directory) solution, the company has built a secure, high-performance, and fully controllable digital identity platform—charting a new course for large manufacturers looking to replace Microsoft AD with homegrown alternatives.

Policy Pressure Meets Security Reality: How Leagsoft XCAD Tackled a 7,000-Account Headache

Ningbo Iron & Steel operates a fully integrated production chain—from raw materials through ironmaking, steelmaking, continuous casting, and hot rolling—with equipment that ranks among the most advanced in China.

With SASAC's "2+8+N" domestic IT replacement mandate targeting full compliance by 2027, the company faced a dual challenge: retiring Microsoft AD while fixing chronic pain points in account management, self-service password recovery, and password resets.

Leagsoft's assessment painted a clear picture. Ningbo Iron & Steel relied on Microsoft AD to manage over 7,000 employee accounts and integrate multiple business systems. That deep dependency made the IT team wary of applying patches or upgrades. Worse, Microsoft AD offered no weak-password detection and no user-friendly way for employees to reset or recover passwords on their own. As headcount and account volumes grew, forgotten-password incidents ballooned, drowning IT ops in tickets and burning out the team.

Whether pushed by compliance deadlines or pulled by operational necessity, Ningbo Iron & Steel needed a unified account management fix—and fast.

Unified Identity Management: The Bedrock of Internal Security

Account infrastructure is the bedrock of enterprise security. Leagsoft swapped out Microsoft AD for its domestic alternative, delivering a unified identity management platform purpose-built for the customer.

Leagsoft's domestic AD doesn't just replicate Microsoft AD's core features—it improves on them. The migration is frictionless: no client software to install, no leave-and-rejoin-domain rituals, no forced password resets. That alone slashes operational overhead. Under the hood, the XCAD Identity Security Engine adds capabilities Microsoft AD simply doesn't have: weak-password enforcement, self-service account activation, self-service password changes, automated forgotten-password recovery, blocking of dormant and zombie accounts, and time-based login restrictions. The result? Password headaches fade, security posture tightens, and the IT team gets breathing room.

Platform security is engineered in from every angle:

· Architecture: Deployed on domestic servers, the platform is inherently shielded from vulnerabilities tied to traditional Microsoft Windows Server services. Flexible deployment options keep operational risk low.

· Access: Kerberos secures the authentication layer, while LDAP traffic is encrypted end-to-end—closing the door on known and emerging threats.

· Data: Active Directory data is backed up on a regular schedule. Backup formats are fully controllable, with support for multiple encryption algorithms—locking down the final line of defense.

One Account, Five Endpoints: Seamless Transition Across the Fleet

The domestic IT replacement wave isn't slowing down, and enterprises are already confronting the next hurdle: unified management of domestic endpoints. Leagsoft's domestic AD is ahead of the curve, having pioneered unified control across Windows, UOS, Kylin, macOS, and Linux. One account gets users into all four major PC platforms—no silos, no compatibility nightmares.

For Ningbo Iron & Steel, that means migrating from legacy Microsoft AD to a domestic environment without sweating cross-platform friction.

Beyond Check-Box Compliance: Building a Native Digital Security Foundation

Leagsoft XCAD is more than a drop-in replacement for Microsoft AD. It is the launchpad for a native digital security foundation.

Once compliance boxes are ticked, XCAD scales up into a full IAM (Identity and Access Management) system—unifying authentication and single sign-on (SSO) across endpoints, networks, and business applications enterprise-wide. The endgame: a single identity management backbone that everything else plugs into.

Leagsoft IAM, the core module of Leagsoft's native digital security stack, extends even further through SDK integration. Business systems that plug into it inherit built-in security features like secure sandboxes and application-level tunnels. For large central and state-owned enterprises, that translates into lower security build-out costs, seamless boundaryless work, and digital transformation that stays on track.

This partnership marks a watershed moment for Leagsoft Technology in industrial manufacturing's domestic IT replacement landscape. Moving forward, Leagsoft will keep doubling down on independent innovation to help enterprises harden their digital defenses.