Novell, Inc., the leading provider of Net business solutions, is providing speed, reliability and security to the heterogeneous computing environment of Pima County (Arizona) Development Services. Pima County Development Services - which provides high-quality and timely land use planning, development review, zoning and permit services to residents of southern Arizona - recently replaced its Windows* servers with Novell® NetWare® to enhance the performance of its multi-platform, multi-application network.
Pima County Development Services had depended on NetWare as its primary server for years with outstanding results. But when a flood of Microsoft* Windows NT*-based applications and tools - including a geographic information systems (GIS) application - were installed to its system, the organization assumed that splitting its primary NetWare server environment with Windows NT would enhance overall performance. Unfortunately, soon after the transition to NT, Pima County Development Services encountered several infrastructure challenges. The system was noticeably slower and less reliable, resulting in increased downtime, reduced productivity, and increased user complaints and support issues. Pima County Development Services returned the GIS application to the Novell server environment to regain efficiency.
"Once we moved our GIS application to Microsoft NT, we noticed the difference immediately," said Chris Hanson, Pima County Development Services network administrator. "NetWare surpassed NT in speed, reliability and security. Novell delivered on the mark. We returned the GIS application to NetWare and haven't looked back since."
With the interoperability of NetWare, Pima County Development Services is now able to support its heterogeneous network - including its specialized NT-based applications - with improved speed, security and reliability. The organization now seamlessly runs a mixture of NT and NetWare to deliver its various services, such as land-use planning, development review, zoning and permitting. NT is exclusively used to run the group's specialized Windows-only applications and integrate with its Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 database, while NetWare serves as the network's primary server environment, supporting all applications, storing all resident data and streamlining network access through a single point of authentication.
NetWare has significantly decreased the time required to perform simple tasks - name searches by more than 75 percent and application launches by more than 70 percent - increasing overall system efficiency. NetWare has also effectively eliminated downtime entirely for Pima County Development Services, increasing user productivity and saving countless administrator man-hours.
Services That Make Doing Business Easier
Aiming to further leverage the power of Novell infrastructure, Pima County Development Services is currently upgrading to NetWare 6 to gain new services such as Novell iFolder™, which provides users anytime access to their files and data from anywhere, automatically synchronizing any changes or additions made to files to ensure the most current document is always available. The organization is also taking advantage of Novell GroupWise® and its WebAccess feature, letting Pima County zoning inspectors and field agents connect to their e-mail and calendar via their PDAs while working remotely.
"In line with Novell's vision of anytime, anywhere access, our organization is also looking to progress toward a total Web-based infrastructure," Hanson said. "We plan to roll out iPrint, Novell's Web-enabled print solution, along with Novell Portal Services and other Novell Web-enabled functionality, allowing our employees to be as productive on the road as they would be in the office."
The security of GroupWise also protects the organization from virus attacks. Unlike other county departments that run Microsoft Exchange, Pima County Development Services has never been responsible for propagating viruses throughout the department or county system. "GroupWise and NetWare have phenomenal security; their protection far surpasses other products. When viruses hit, other departments spend days cleaning up their systems, but the NetWare server hasn't been hit at all. That is some security," Hanson said.
Pima County Development Services also uses Novell ZENworks® for Desktops to manage its permit-granting program on each desktop. Before ZENworks, the organization manually installed software at each workstation, requiring up to six administrators for an entire day. With ZENworks Application Launcher, the organization simply sets up a snapshot of the permit program and then pushes it to the desktop from one central location, completing the job in a matter of hours.
Novell, Inc. (Nasdaq: NOVL) delivers Software for the Open Enterprise™. With more than 50,000 customers in 43 countries, Novell helps customers manage, simplify, secure and integrate their technology environments by leveraging best-of-breed, open standards-based software. With over 20 years of experience, more than 5,000 employees, 5,000 partners and support centers around the world, Novell helps customers gain control over their IT operating environment while reducing cost. More information about Novell can be found at http://www.novell.com.
Novell, NetWare, GroupWise and ZENworks are registered trademarks, Novell iFolder is a trademark and Cambridge Technology Partners is a registered service mark of Novell, Inc. in the United States and other countries. *All third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
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