Novell Net Business Solutions Help State Governments Work for the People

Novell, Inc., the leading provider of Net business solutions, today announced that key state departments in Ohio and Arizona have deployed the latest Novell® solutions to ensure employees' access to information anytime, anywhere, improving their ability to deliver citizen services and reducing network administration costs. The Arizona Department of Administration (ADOA) needed a solution that would allow employees to telecommute and adjust their work schedules to meet changing work and family needs. The State of Ohio Auditor's Office sought an Internet-based networking solution that would also give remote users immediate access to data and resources while seamlessly integrating with its current directory and Solaris*, Linux* and legacy systems. Novell NetWare® 6 and Novell iFolder™ meet these states' needs while increasing employee satisfaction and even preserving the environment.

Arizona and Ohio join a growing list of government entities turning to Novell to help transition services onto the Net. Governments face specific challenges moving their operations to an Internet environment. Most, like the State of Ohio Auditor's Office, have mixed networks with significant legacy technology they need to continue to keep productive. Many, like ADOA, need reliable and secure access to data from anywhere, increasing employee productivity while keeping costs in line to fit streamlined budgets. Scalable, reliable, secure and cost effective, Novell solutions fit the bill for many government organizations.

Give Workers Flexibility and Access Anywhere
The Arizona Department of Administration provides business services to more than 100 state agencies, boards and commissions. As the state's business arm, ADOA often takes the lead in modeling new business strategies, such as ADOA's Workplace Flexibility Initiative that encourages managers to make a more flexible workplace by allowing employees to telecommute and adjust their work schedules to meet changing work and family needs. ADOA has proven that telecommuting, compressed work weeks and adjusted work hours can increase employee productivity, increase job satisfaction, reduce employee turnover, reduce traffic congestion and air pollution, and help attract new talent. To offer this flexible workplace, ADOA needed a network to support remote work and longer working schedules.

Although many ADOA employees currently telecommute, ADOA's network allowed limited remote access to ADOA files, so many of the organization's qualifying telecommuters were discouraged from participating. Setup was time consuming. The system couldn't synchronize changes and edits to files in real-time, making collaboration disjointed and unreliable. After an extensive assessment of its options, ADOA decided to consolidate its 900 employees onto a Novell NetWare system, and it turned to Novell iFolder to address the challenges of telecommuting and remote work.

With Novell iFolder, users now have high-speed, secure access to files from home via any Web browser. Through encryption features, Novell iFolder also provides the department and its users with enhanced security. Data integrity is maintained and backed up on each server, decreasing data loss and increasing overall employee productivity. "We came across iFolder on Novell's beta site and were blown away by the functionality - it was the exact solution we were looking for," said Doug Upshir, ADOA technology specialist. "In my 10 years in the industry, Novell iFolder is the best application I have come across."

Simplified and Secure Internet-based Networking
The State of Ohio Auditor's Office faced a similar need - a reliable, secure, scalable, cost-effective Internet-based networking solution. Responsible for auditing finances of 5,000 state and local government departments and agencies, the Auditor's Office wanted to consolidate its network to reduce cost and complexity, while still maintaining the network's scalability. In addition, with nearly 750 remote laptop users, the organization wanted to provide a solution that would offer secure, immediate access to data and resources at any time and from any location, all while simplifying system administration and management for its six-person support team.

Already a user of Novell eDirectory™, the State of Ohio Auditor's Office turned to NetWare 6 for the Internet-based services it needed to address its challenges, along with seamless integration with its current directory and Solaris*, Linux* and legacy systems. With WebAccess, NetWare 6 provides the organization's traditional and remote users with anytime, anywhere access to government data and auditing resources from any Internet browser. Novell iPrint will eliminate location barriers by allowing users to print to any remote location on the network. Novell iFolder offers employees remote access to personal files anytime, anywhere, with automatic synchronization of file changes. In addition, Novell Cluster Services™, part of NetWare 6, offers the organization fail-safe server capabilities, enabling a collection of individual network servers to work together to provide users highly available access to critical network resources. Further strengthening the Novell solution, the Auditor's Office deployed Novell GroupWise® to complement the added functionality of NetWare 6.

"If you have to manage multiple platforms in your environment, NetWare 6 is the glue," said Paul Feldman, vice president and general manager of Novell's Networking Services and Solutions Group. "With NetWare, the State of Ohio Auditor's Office has already seen a significant reduction in administration hours as well as a drop in data loss. Novell is helping them reach 100 percent reliability and 100 percent availability, while providing optimal security and data integrity."

For more information about Novell NetWare 6 and Novell iFolder, visit http://www.novell.com/netware6 and http://www.novell.com/products/ifolder.