Irish Department of the Environment

Success Story

Irish government agency streamlines communication with Novell® GroupWise®

Overview

The Irish Government's Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government is responsible for developing and coordinating policy and legislation across a wide range of areas. The department promotes infrastructural programs and provides a number of services directly to the public - housing grants, vehicle registration and environmental information.

Challenge

In advance of Ireland leading the EU presidency, the department decided it was time to overhaul its communications infrastructure to streamline communications between civil servants across the country. The department wanted to give its staff direct access to the right information immediately and minimize the risk of employee-initiated viruses affecting the system.

Novell solution

"This is the first time that the department has had a unified messaging and collaboration system. Our investment in Novell GroupWise and other Novell solutions has been a quantum leap for us."

Aidan Sullivan
ICT Network Manager
Department of the Environment

The department turned to Novell to replace its entire e-mail and calendaring system with Novell® GroupWise® 6.5. The directory-based Novell GroupWise system provides secure, reliable messaging and calendaring services to over 1,200 department staff throughout the country, replacing a variety of other disparate messaging systems including Microsoft* Exchange, cc:Mail* and Lotus Notes*.

"The key to our managed environment is to provide employees with secure access to critical information, anytime, anywhere using any device," said Aidan Sullivan, ICT Network Manager at the Irish Department of the Environment. "Novell allows us to fulfill this vision."

The Novell GroupWise deployment allows civil servants to securely transfer and access information (including e-mail, calendaring and instant messaging) among geographically dispersed locations in Ireland and abroad. GroupWise WebAccess functionality is also available to all mobile users via their laptops, PDAs and wireless devices.

Novell GroupWise was selected for its stability, security and range of functionality. The product provides protection from e-mail-propagated viruses, giving the department increased productivity and resilience.

The department wanted to invest in a messaging system which would not require replacement when changes were made to other systems such as server operating systems. Novell GroupWise is based on open standards.

"The technology was integrated seamlessly with the department's infrastructure and was implemented without problem," said Paul Fleming of Synopsis Consulting.

Results

GroupWise functionality and access capabilities were put to the test at an EU Presidency conference in Malaysia. During the month-long conference, departmental officials used Novell GroupWise WebAccess with great success to access their calendars and e-mail as though they were in their Ireland offices.

"The benefits of Novell GroupWise have been realized immediately, with recognition and praise coming from senior departmental officials," said David Carroll, senior technical officer at the Irish Department of the Environment.

"This is the first time that the department has had a unified messaging and collaboration system and it was necessary in advance of Ireland's presidency of the EU," said Sullivan. "Our investment in Novell GroupWise and other Novell solutions has been a quantum leap for us with the ability to deliver reliable and secure services. We can also begin looking ahead to deliver additional services around user identity with other Novell technologies."