Town of Cobourg Success Story
Novell Cool Solutions: Feature
|
Digg This -
Slashdot This
Posted: 4 Dec 2003 |
Canadian Town Replaces Microsoft System with Affordable Solution Featuring Novell Small Business Suite 6 Starter Pack and GroupWise 6.5
 |
Overview |
 |
|
Cobourg is a town of about 18,000 located on the north shore of Lake Ontario in Ontario, Canada. Cobourg employs over 120 people who work at the town hall and several remote locations.
|
Challenge |
|
|
To find an affordable way to upgrade the existing Microsoft Mail post office being used by the Cobourg Town Hall and other Cobourg government buildings and departments. With e-mail delivery often taking an unreasonable length of time and in some cases, duplicate e-mails being mysteriously sent, the town's simple ISP POP e-mail system was judged to be inadequate. Cobourg's decision makers wanted a more stable system that included an integrated calendar and scheduler and the ability for employees to access their e-mail, calendars, schedules, and tasks remotely through the Internet.
With very limited resources (due to Public Sector funding cuts), a cost-effective solution was of utmost importance. Cobourg wanted to avoid the costs incurred by another local government department that had recently installed a Microsoft Exchange 2000 solution with 57 users for a cost in excess of $23,000.00 (Canadian Dollars, CAD), and did not include Internet access.
|
Novell Solution |
|
|
The town's Supervisor of Information Technologies, John Grozelle, joined forces with Marie Perry, a Novell CNI/CNE with MTech Services, to propose a solution that would involve the use of the free Novell Small Business Suite 6 Starter Pack, integrated with GroupWise 6.5.
The solution involved installing the Novell Small Business Suite 6 NetWare server at the municipality's Emergency Control Center that would host the GroupWise system. The municipality then purchased 60 GroupWise 6.5 licenses and maintenance for each license. John and Marie were able to utilize the town's existing hardware, so no new hardware needed to be purchased.
By using the free Novell Small Business Suite 6 Starter Pack as the means of installing NetWare 6, the municipality's cost of this solution was under $12,000.00 (CAD), which included the GroupWise licensing, antivirus software, backup software, and reseller consulting and deployment fees.
|
Impact |
|
|
The town of Cobourg is now implementing this solution in all its departments and is experiencing a fully-connected office which was not possible previously. This type of communication is assisting the municipality in reaching a stated objective of crossing departmental barriers to achieve full integration of activities.
|
submit your own success story |
|
|
We want to hear from you! Tell us how the Novell Small Business Suite was instrumental in solving a pressing business problem.
Submit your success story here. 
Novell Cool Solutions (corporate web communities) are produced by WebWise Solutions. www.webwiseone.com