De Montfort University

Success Story

University consolidates IT management for 27,000 users; reaps cost savings and service improvements with Novell's Linux and identity management solutions

Overview

De Montfort University is one of the largest universities in the UK with 23,000 students and 3,500 faculty and other staff. The university is a leading institution for professional, creative and vocational education and has special arrangements with universities and colleges across the world.

Challenge

Over the years, the IT infrastructure at De Montfort University had developed at a departmental level, resulting in a range of operating platforms and differing levels of service throughout the organization. The university wanted to consolidate its IT structure to provide consistent services to its students, regardless of department mode of study or geographical location.

Managing duplicate systems is costly, and users get frustrated with the need for multiple IDs and passwords to access applications. The university needed a platform to create an IT infrastructure to provide all its users with fast, secure access to the growing collection of e-resources.

Novell solution

"Investing in technology is an important part of university policy. Novell is helping us provide a raft of innovative services to the students here, which reinforces De Montfort's reputation as a first-class, forward-looking educational institution."

Professor David Asch
Pro Vice Chancellor
De Montfort University

De Montfort University turned to Linux* and will be one of the first customers to deploy Novell® Open Enterprise Server. The university also selected a Novell identity and access management solution to globally manage its users and chose Novell ZENworks® to streamline IT management.

"We were running a variety of operating systems across multiple locations including NetWare, Linux, UNIX* and Windows*," said Roy Adams, IT Director at De Montfort University. "Openness and reliability were top priorities and Linux best met these needs. To meet the challenges of higher education and our student population we are moving to a Linux environment."

The university implemented Novell Open Enterprise Server, a dual operating system that includes both NetWare® and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server. The product has a complete set of network services including directory management, clustering, and file and print services. The university will begin migrating existing Microsoft* file and printer servers, as well as Solaris* systems, to Open Enterprise Server as soon as it is commercially available.

"We like the openness of Linux and have found that its capability and flexibility meet our needs," said Adams. "We have been working with Linux for some time, but Novell has brought many of the networking pieces that had been missing. Novell's Open Enterprise Server is an excellent fit for us."

In the past, university departments managed their own users which led to complexities for students who needed access to applications across multiple departments. The university selected Novell eDirectory™ and Novell Identity Manager to automate identity management throughout the university simplifying access for students.

"We looked at Microsoft Active Directory* and other solutions, but Novell eDirectory came out on top for scalability, flexibility and the overall maturity of the directory," said Chris Semmens, Team Leader at De Montfort University. "We took great care in making this selection because a global directory is essential for efficient IT management in a complex environment such as ours."

Novell eDirectory provides a single information repository for all of the users and systems across the university, allowing the IT staff to automatically create and manage digital identities for its 27,000 students and staff. Novell Identity Manager synchronizes user identity information across applications, which is particularly beneficial at the start of a new term when the university can give thousands of students network access on the first day of school.

With Novell ZENworks, IT staff can now administer new applications, security updates and basic helpdesk calls for the entire university leaving departmental support staff to concentrate on serving students. In the past, IT staff needed several days to update individual workstations. Now the staff can deliver applications in a fraction of that time without leaving their desks.

Novell ZENworks also allows the IT staff to positively manage desktop machines, which is particularly important in university environments where many users share computers. Users cannot change the desktop or download new applications that might disrupt service.

"The policy management features in ZENworks give us much greater security on our desktops," said Semmens. "It has been very time consuming for faculty staff in the past and left us vulnerable to virus attacks."

Results

Implementing a Novell solution will allow De Montfort University to consolidate IT management and provide 27,000 users with improved service and secure access to resources. The university has also significantly reduced management costs enabling more resources to be focused on supporting the university's students. Novell ZENworks helps the university's small IT staff distribute applications and updates many times faster from a central location.

"Investing in technology is an important part of university policy," said Professor David Asch, Pro Vice Chancellor at De Montfort University. "Novell is helping us provide a raft of innovative services to the students here, reinforcing De Montfort's reputation as a first-class, forward-looking educational institution."