PROVO, Utah - Jan. 18, 2002 - In Bay City, Mich., public schools are finding better ways to use technology to help students learn. Located northwest of Detroit on the shore of Lake Huron, Bay City Public Schools is a 10,000-student K-12 school district with a strong focus on the integration of technology into curriculum. Bay City students, faculty, staff and even some parents rely on the district's computer network for classroom instruction, study and research, e-mail, and day-to-day school administration.

Over the years, Bay City's IT system had evolved into a hodgepodge of independent, incompatible software solutions and desktop operating systems. Novell, solution-provider-partner Matrix Integration and Dell stepped in to help Bay City Public Schools create an entirely new network that can expand with the district as it grows and provides pre-configured servers that can work with any computer — regardless of operating system. Relying on Novell NetWare, eDirectory, ZENworks for Desktops and GroupWise, each Bay City school moved from a local area, peer-to-peer network to a state-of-the-art district network that connects users from schools, homes or any Web browser.

"I can't say enough good things about Novell," said John Strycker, director of technology and information systems at Bay City Public Schools. "Everyone from board members to students is benefiting from this new system. Like waving a magic wand, we are now seeing people use technology to speed up their day-to-day processes; and we've realized significant cost savings. What Novell brings to our school district goes far beyond just helping us with our technology. We now communicate and operate better and faster across the entire district."

Press Contact:
Kevan Barney
Novell, Inc.
Phone: 801-861-2931
E-mail: kbarney@novell.com