Johannesburg, 15 Sep 2009
That's the verdict of Brent Waller, Network and Information Systems Manager at GlobeCast South Africa. He was commenting on the satellite broadcast company's implementation of a Linux-based messaging collaboration solution from SYNAQ.
GlobeCast, a subsidiary of France Telecom, is the leading global provider of content management and worldwide transmission services for professional broadcast delivery. Its South African operation, which services the whole African continent, recently turned to SYNAQ for a solution to its complex e-mail messaging requirements.
The company opted for SYNAQ Messaging Suite powered by Zimbra, the acknowledged leader in next-generation messaging and collaboration software, because the solution provides full e-mail collaboration, shared calendaring, built-in convergence communication, document sharing and creation, and task scheduling, all in one easy-to-use package.
“We couldn't use the same solution as GlobeCast's European operations because of the interconnect problems from Africa. We would need the equivalent of a 2MB committed pipe to enable our people, 70% of whom are in the field, to access our network from wherever they might be, including remote regions.
“Many of them regularly have to send and receive large e-mails - some around 6Mb in size. They have to store them with limitations on size, and be able to access them, from their laptops, their cellphone or an Internet caf'e. In addition, we need a solution that is stable and secure. It's quite a challenge but SYNAQ Messaging Suite seems to have solved it for us,” he adds.
According to Waller, GlobeCast Africa users appreciate the ease of use of the new solution and the fact that using it in the office or in the field is exactly the same.
“It makes no difference to them whether they access the system from their desktops in our Johannesburg or Nairobi office or via the Internet on their cellphones from a remote region in Mozambique.
“They love the fact that their signatures, for example, don't change; and that if they make a calendar change on their cellphones or iPhones, their calendar on the server is automatically updated. There no need for synchronisation - what a pleasure!” he adds.
SYNAQ has been providing GlobeCast Africa with managed e-mail and Internet access solutions for the past three years. The new SYNAQ Messaging Suite solution, which is delivered as a SYNAQ Managed Service, is an addition to the back-end solutions that have been provided to date.
“We were confident that it would be ideal for GlobeCast's needs. The implementation went smoothly and it has more than met all our expectations,” he concludes.
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