When Coca Cola bottling and distributing company Amalgamated Beverage Industry (ABI) decided to upgrade its routed networking system, it chose solution provider Easy Access to supply the necessary hardware and software.
The existing network used Novell Netware 4 as its operating system. This had to upgraded to Novell Netware 5 and new servers had to be installed. In addition, a new e-mail system for 800 users based at sites located between Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal had to be implemented. Novell Groupwise 5.5 was used for this portion of the project.
"The solution offered to ABI required an extensive skills base to ensure successful rollout," explains Easy Access managing director Dave Stewart. "Consequently, we decided to outsource the technical expertise needed in high-level areas to networking skills provider n-Time."
"We needed only six weeks to implement and deploy the new e-mail system at every site within ABI," relates n-Time managing director Guy Venter. "In addition, user training was done on-the-fly during installation to speed up the process even further."
"The co-operation between the three companies, and in particular between ourselves and Easy Access as suppliers, was tremendous," enthuses Venter. "As business partners, we all worked closely together at all times to ensure the system was rolled out on time and according to specification."
ABI PC LAN manager Larry Cooke is ecstatic about the new e-mail network. "The system is working beautifully and our users are already reaping the benefits of its many features," he says.
So much so, in fact, that the document management and workflow control functions included in the Groupwise solution will now be implemented much sooner than originally planned. "ABI users have seen the advantages Groupwise provides in this regard, and have inundated management with requests to implement the functions," says Stewart. "Consequently, this implementation will take place during April."
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n-Time
n-Time is a Networking Skills Partner to the IT Channel, which offer skills to IT companies large and small. n-Time takes the risk away from the reseller and assists the reseller by providing highly skilled people for customer pre-sales, consulting and support, post-sales support and technical marketing assistance.
Resellers can offer clients new added service. n-Time will also implement help desks for their clients which enables them to help their clients to deliver better service and make more revenue out of their clients. International known helpdesk software and cost effective designed for small to medium size companies.
The company is located in Rivonia with branches in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Durban.
Networking is the primary focus of the company with network design, implementation and configuration consulting, turnkey projects and outsourcing of networks on behalf of resellers.
As a Novell Service Partner, one of an elite group in South Africa, n-Time is authorised by Novell to provide support and consulting on their behalf. Their staff can consult on the entire range of Novell products including NetWare, GroupWise, ManageWise/ZEN, BorderManager and NetWare for SAA. Integration with other Network Operating Systems (NOS) is a prime focus for this group of people. n-Time are able to expand urgent issues to Novell`s European Support Centre on behalf of their customers, providing them with a level of support not readily available elsewhere. Contact them via the Call Centre number at 0861 60 60 60.