Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford

Success Story

Leading UK Institute uses Novell NetWare 6.5 to improve information management and optimize storage across its mixed environment

Overview

The mission of the Institute of Molecular Medicine at the University of Oxford is to apply the techniques of molecular and cell biology to the study of human disease. The Institute encompasses the university's Clinical School, as well as the largest medical and cancer research councils in the UK, and is home to more than 400 academic and research staff.

Challenge

Research never stops at the Institute of Molecular Medicine, so reliable access to information is critical. Academic and research staff need 24/7 access to their files, particularly while traveling, and post-graduate students need consistent access to information from other colleges throughout the university.

In addition, more than 60 percent of the Institute's staff uses Apple Macintosh computers, many of them with Mac OS X. The Institute needed to give Macintosh users the same seamless file access, printing, and communication services as its Microsoft Windows users, without having to install a client on every Macintosh workstation. The Institute also needed a better storage solution to manage an enormous volume of Macintosh files.

Novell solution

"We work with scientists who are very focused on their work and don't want to be troubled with technology disruptions. With NetWare 6.5, we can provide seamless information management, printing and communication across our Macintosh and Windows environment."

Tom Anstey
Computer Manager
Institute of Molecular Medicine,
University of Oxford

The Institute selected a Novell solution including Novell NetWare 6.5 and Novell eDirectory to improve information access and services for both its Windows and Macintosh users.

"Novell eDirectory is much easier to manage than a flat database," said Tom Anstey, computer manager at the Institute of Molecular Medicine at the University of Oxford. "We evaluated other options, including Microsoft, but didn't find anything suitable. We needed a mature directory service that doesn't generate large amounts of network traffic when synchronizing."

Novell eDirectory is the central source of user information for Oxford's clinical schools and other associated departments, providing the authentication that enables students and scientists to log in from nearby hospitals, other areas of the university or while traveling. With the Virtual Office features in NetWare 6.5, both Windows and Macintosh users can access files and e-mail from anywhere via a greatly improved portal, using a standard Web browser.

NetWare 6.5 has full built-in support for Mac OS X, eliminating the time-consuming process of installing clients on each Macintosh workstation. Regardless of their platform, all academic and research staff have seamless file and print capabilities to work without interruption.

"We work with scientists who are very focused on their work and don't want to be troubled with technology disruptions," said Anstey. "With NetWare 6.5, we can provide seamless information access, printing and communication across our Macintosh and Windows environment."

The new iManager in NetWare 6.5 gives IT administrators a global view of the network from a Web-based management tool, further simplifying the management of a diverse environment. With all the management tools at their fingertips, the IT staff no longer needs to travel back to their workstations to provide network support, reducing the time to support each request by nearly 20 percent.

"Having a management utility like iManager that is not dependent on the client operating system is a vast improvement for supporting our Macintosh users," said Anstey. "The ability to manage our network from a single portal has greatly improved our IT efficiency and freed up time to work on other projects. Most importantly, users get faster service."

The Server Consolidation Utility and NetWare Storage Services (NSS) in NetWare 6.5 help the Institute easily move and manage directories and volumes of data, including many of its Macintosh files with complex filenames. By efficiently allocating its storage space, the Institute can better manage its files without the need for more servers.

"With NetWare 6.5, we are able to move and reorganize files that we otherwise wouldn't be able to deal with," said Anstey. "In the past, even large numbers of small files overburdened our servers and our mount times were appalling. Now we can easily copy and move files while keeping eDirectory attributes intact, significantly reducing the workload of upgrading and managing our network."

Results

Using NetWare 6.5, the Institute has improved accessibility to information with secure Web access to files at any time, and from any location. Seamless file and print capabilities across a combined Macintosh and Windows environment have improved staff productivity and decreased administration costs for a small IT staff. With efficient storage management in NetWare 6.5, the Institute can also manage large amounts of data across its mixed environment without the need for additional servers.