E-mail is more than a useful tool, it has become a vital component in the business world of today, acting as a fundamental channel for communication. But electronic messaging is not exclusive in the corporate arena. E-mail and Internet access is just as valuable to educational institutions, easing the flow of information between students, lecturers and institutional bodies.
In the case of Cape Technikon, over 7 000 students are fed vital tutorial information and syllabus documentation via e-mail. Over the years student demand for e-mail has grown at a rate of 25% each year and, according to the technikon`s file server coordinator, Ferdie Versfeld, the best system to cope with these demands is NovellInternet Messaging System 2.6c (NIMS).
NIMS provides easy-to-manage, reliable messaging that is trustworthy for small or large service providers, small businesses with just a few local and mobile e-mail users, or major enterprises with hundreds of thousands of e-mail users around the world. Novell`s award-winning ISAP/ASP and enterprise mail system enables administration of the entire messaging system from a single location.
"Because NIMS leverages NDS eDirectory, it provides Cape Technikon with a highly scalable Internet messaging system. Cape Technikon manages their entire messaging system through Novell`s eDirectory. This includes user account information, authentication, and configuration all managed from a single location. NIMS provides them with a cost-effective and low cost of ownership e-mail solution," explains Mandy Eagar, major accounts manager at Novell Cape Town.
The decision to run with NIMS 2.0 was first made by the technikon`s IT department in 1999, advancing its eight-year working relationship with Novell. The Y2K mayhem was the initial catalyst behind the new installation after user names had to increase from seven digits to nine, a function that the existing system could not cope with.
"In January 2000 we implemented the pilot version of NIMS 2.0 and purchased it outright after the three-month trial period. This year, as our e-mail demands have grown, we`ve increased the mailbox count from its original 5 000 mailbox limit to 10 000 and upgraded to the 2.6 version with full-term upgrade protection," says Versfeld.
Cape Technikon has 15 330 users in its NDS, with 7 819 users who have logged into their e-mail accounts and 7 812 requiring licensing. The students have access to computers situated on the five campuses - the Main Campus in District Six and the satellite campuses in Granger Bay, Mowbray, Bellville and Wellington. A total of 2 200 PCs are employed by the institution, 750 used by staff and the remainder by students. Suitably Internet-smart, 30% of these students have external mail accounts on Hotmail and the like.
The Internet-savvy Technikon students made the transition from the original client-based e-mail system to Web-based e-mail relatively easily. "NIMS users can view and retrieve mail from any standard POP3 or IMAP4 mail client," says Versfeld. This includes Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, Netscape Communicator, GroupWise, Eudora, PINE and so on. But NIMS also facilitates Web-based mail retrieval from WebMail, using any standard browser such as Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator - a component designed for remote or on-the-road access.
"The technikon decided that students would retrieve mail from the Web using the product`s WebMail alternative and technikon staff would have the choice of WebMail e-mail access or the POP3 or IMAP4 alternatives in order to retain their Outlook and Netscape interfaces."
The benefits of the e-mail changeover have been realised by Cape Technikon. Apart from modest bandwidth demands and widespread mail accessibility, NIMS simplifies the process of changing passwords, defining mail proxies, auto-forwarding, auto-replying and rules, with a Web-based self-service feature. Moreover all of the information is stored on one server which eases management and backup.
"We also enjoy the benefits of a low cost of ownership. The amount of technical support required is minimal," says Versfeld. But one of the most celebrated aspects of NIMS 2.6 for an educational institution as large as the Cape Technikon is the Single Copy Message Store. This means that if one message is sent to multiple users it only gets stored once in the data store, utilising the disk space more efficiently.
"NIMS is also a cross platform solution, so whether your core servers run Linux, Solaris or NetWare, you can manage your e-mail system along with your entire network using a single set of tools and processes."
Furthermore with NIMS and NDS eDirectory, everything is represented by objects on a hierarchical desktop interface, and everything can be managed using a single set of efficient tools. "If you can read, you can use Novell products," asserts Versfeld. The Cape Technikon is the first educational institution of its kind to install NIMS 2.6 but not the last. Several other provincial technikons are planning to follow suite. Next on the Cape Technikon`s IT agenda is Novell GroupWise.
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Novell, Inc is a leading provider of Net services software that secures and powers all types of networks - intranets, the Internet and extranets; corporate and public; wired to wireless - as one Net, across leading operating systems.
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