Novell announced that Woodbine Entertainment Group, a billion-dollar provider of racing, gaming and entertainment products, has chosen Novell for secure collaboration and automated desktop management. The company is providing employees with reliable tools that support its e-mail intensive work environment, reduce administration costs by 80 percent, streamline resource management and improve virus protection. As a result, Woodbine is lowering overall costs and dramatically increasing productivity.
Woodbine evaluated Microsoft Exchange before upgrading to Novell GroupWise to run on Novell’s SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, giving users better performance and even greater protection against virus attacks. Specifically, employees are taking advantage of the more robust calendaring and scheduling features as well as secure instant messaging. Now the company only needs one administrator, instead of the team of people required to support Windows.
“We took a good look at Microsoft Exchange, but had far too many security concerns,” said Randy Folmes, director of information services at Woodbine Entertainment. “We know the damage that a single virus can cause. Novell GroupWise running on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server is one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. It gave us reliable e-mail which is at the core of our business, and we don’t ever worry about downtime.”
The company also uses Novell ZENworks for desktop management. Woodbine can now distribute applications and upgrades throughout the company in a day, reducing both travel time and costs by 60 percent. For example, Woodbine IT staff used ZENworks to automate Microsoft Windows 2000 upgrades and recently distributed a Windows 2000 patch from a central location to protect the company against the Sasser virus.
“We no longer have to drive 30 miles to install a new application or troubleshoot a problem,” Folmes said. “In fact, the IT staff can respond faster to user requests, cutting the number of open support calls by 70 percent. We would never be able to keep up with our growing number of users without ZENworks.”
David Patrick, vice president and general manager, Linux, Open Source Platforms and Services at Novell, said, “Customers are regaining control of their IT environments. Novell’s commitment to helping customers define their open enterprise is driving IT costs down and productivity up. No other vendor can match our commitment to open standards-based computing.”
