Cedar Graphics

Success Story

With printing equipment running in a mixed environment, Cedar Graphics needed an open system to tie everything together. Moving to Novell® Open Enterprise Server on Linux*, as well as Novell ZENworks®, helped the company streamline its network management, greatly reducing IT administration and travel time.

Overview

Cedar Graphics is among the largest printing companies in the U.S. and among the largest sheet-fed printers in the Midwest. The company has a global clientele that includes Fortune 500 companies, publishers, storefronts and entrepreneurs.

Challenge

As a leading printer, Cedar Graphics is moving to a digital and Web-based environment to provide its customers with more printing options and faster service. Upgrading its systems also required an upgrade to its network. The company needed a stable and efficient network to respond quickly to customer requests regarding quotes, delivery and billing.

Cedar Graphics also lacked a consistent desktop management solution to centrally manage its desktops across a heterogeneous network. The IT staff was spending much of its time visiting individual workstations to install updates and patches. The company wanted to reduce routine administrative work to free up its IT staff to work on more strategic projects.

Novell solution

"We have a strong belief in having an open environment. With printing and manufacturing equipment from all over the world, it is extremely important that we don't get locked into a single vendor solution. Novell gives us great interoperability with an underlying system that can talk to anything."

Mike Bishop
Network Administrator
Cedar Graphics

Cedar Graphics worked with EnCompass Iowa, a Novell Gold Partner, to design an optimal network. The company wanted an open environment and evaluated Red Hat* before selecting Novell Open Enterprise Server running on Linux. The company also selected Novell ZENworks® for centralized desktop management.

"Cedar Graphics needed an open, yet supported system that would integrate with all its existing systems," said Nick Fettkether, senior systems engineer at EnCompass Iowa. "Novell Open Enterprise Server provides a fully integrated solution built around a single directory. We were able to make a clean migration to a Linux solution without any user disruption."

Novell Open Enterprise Server includes SUSE® Linux Enterprise Server, but also provides additional networking tools and productivity services not found in standard Linux distributions. Cedar Graphics relies on Novell eDirectory™ to manage users across its disparate environment including Microsoft* Windows*, UNIX*, Linux and Macintosh*.

"We have great respect for the design of Novell eDirectory - it's a work of art," said Mike Bishop, network administrator at Cedar Graphics. "Novell eDirectory gives us a complete and integrated solution for network management that works across our many platforms. Linux also allows us to create an open enterprise so we can choose which applications we want and roll them out without any hassles."

Novell ZENworks has simplified desktop management for a small IT staff. The staff can now image a new machine in 30 minutes, rather than a day. The staff can also distribute applications and updates from a central location in a few hours, rather than taking two weeks to travel to every workstation. The company uses ZENworks Patch Management to distribute patches throughout its environment, including its Windows servers, without any user disruption.

"With ZENworks Patch Management, we can actively manage all our patch distributions," said Bishop. "In the past, we had to rely on automatic patching with Windows and would just cross our fingers that the patches would not create problems. Now we are in control and can distribute patches when and how we like."

With the remote control functionality of ZENworks, helpdesk staff can fix most user problems remotely. If they can't fix a problem in 30 minutes, they simply re-image the user's machine back to its standard configuration. Nearly 85 percent of the company has standardized on the OpenOffice.org business productivity suite, rather than Microsoft Office, which has greatly reduced software licensing costs.

Novell GroupWise® is at the heart of communication for Cedar Graphics, both for e-mail and large file transfers. Employees can quickly and securely transfer production files up to 10M. Many employees also travel frequently and rely on GroupWise WebAccess to stay in touch with e-mail from their laptops, PDA devices or any standard Web browser.

"Novell GroupWise gives us security and freedom from virus hassles," said Bishop. "In 10 years, we've had maybe four instances of e-mail downtime. GroupWise is so secure and easy to manage that we spend no time worrying about it."

Results

"With ZENworks Patch Management, we can actively manage all our patch distributions. In the past, we had to rely on automatic patching with Windows and would just cross our fingers that the patches would not create problems. Now we are in control and can distribute patches when and how we like."

Mike Bishop
Network Administrator
Cedar Graphics

Moving to Novell Open Enterprise Server running on Linux gives Cedar Graphics the flexibility of an open environment, along with the tools to manage an efficient network. Using OpenOffice.org on its desktops has helped the company reduce its software licensing costs by 85 percent.

Novell ZENworks has reduced desktop management time by 30 percent and travel time by more than 60 percent. This time savings has freed up the IT staff to work on bigger projects to help management make better decisions.

"We have a strong belief in having an open environment," said Bishop. "With printing and manufacturing equipment from all over the world, it is extremely important that we don't get locked into a single vendor solution. Novell gives us great interoperability with an underlying system that can talk to anything."