Toll Brothers Lowers Costs, Builds Network Security and Management with Novell

The nation's leading builder of luxury homes, Toll Brothers, has chosen a portfolio of Novell® solutions to protect confidential client data, standardize its desktops and reduce IT administration costs. A Fortune 500 company, Toll Brothers is using several Novell enterprise management solutions to strengthen security with centralized control of user access to client information and automated desktop management to minimize time spent updating and troubleshooting application software.

"The security of client information was our top consideration in selecting an enterprise management solution," said Nancy L. Myers, assistant vice president of Application Development at Toll Brothers. "Other considerations were a solution that would work well across disparate locations — some of them little more than trailers on a construction site — and handle the variety of application software and operating platforms in our network. Novell's robust and integrated solutions have given us the flexibility to protect, configure and connect all of our data and systems."

As a leading home builder, Toll Brothers not only needed to control access to its large volume of sensitive client financial information, but was also required to comply with regulatory standards such as Sarbanes-Oxley. The home builder's computer network was spread across multiple locations, where employees were downloading and running a range of software applications causing IT administrators to travel all over the country to troubleshoot and manage users' desktops. In addition, Toll Brothers required an enterprise management solution that would operate in a mixed Linux* and Windows* platform environment.

Toll Brothers evaluated several identity management solutions before selecting Novell Identity Manager and Novell Access Manager™. Novell Identity Manager automatically synchronizes user identities across multiple applications, including e-mail, human resources and Web applications, and provides the ability to immediately revoke network access for departing employees. Identity Manager's role-based provisioning functionality provides greater control over which users are authorized to access what client data and has improved compliance with regulatory requirements. Novell Access Manager delivers secure authentication for Web-based applications, based on user information stored in Novell eDirectory™, and gives remote users easy and secure access to applications.

The company selected Novell ZENworks® Desktop Management to manage its Microsoft* Windows desktops, enabling the IT staff to effectively respond to software requests and virtually eliminating help desk calls related to non-supported applications. Remote control functionality also allows the IT staff to troubleshoot computers without the additional cost of traveling to the machine's physical location. ZENworks Asset Management maintains a real-time view of the home builder's hardware and software inventory, including software usage reports and licensing. With Novell ZENworks Asset Management, the company anticipates a 30 percent reduction in software licensing costs.

To standardize communication among its users, Toll Brothers picked Novell GroupWise® as its standard e-mail and instant messaging system. With Novell GroupWise as its single collaboration platform, Toll Brothers can provide secure e-mail access to all its employees whether working in the office, a remote location or from home.

"Toll Brothers is mitigating the risk of a data breach occurring from internal sources by integrating a strong identity management solution into its human resources system," said Jim Ebzery, senior vice president of Identity and Security at Novell. "With Novell, Toll Brothers is not only greatly improving the security of its clients' data, but it is cutting travel costs 80 percent by giving its centralized IT staff rigorous tools to manage a dispersed environment. Novell enterprise management solutions have taken the cost and complexity out of securing and managing the home builder's IT environment, thus allowing the company to focus on its core business."