SPI, the Sub-Saharan distributor for Innovative Routines, and Xi Software today announced that Unisa had significantly upgraded its Unix-based print management, job management and sorting solutions following the consolidation and streamlining of its IT operations, which now includes the former University of South Africa (Unisa), the former Technikon South Africa (TSA), and the former Vista University Education Department (VUDEC).
The products, Xi-Text, Xi-Batch and CoSORT, have all been supplied by Unix solutions supplier, SPI, and were all previously used to varying extents by all three of the former institutions with high levels of return on investment.
Xi-Text, in particular, the robust print management tool, is currently installed in 80% of South Africa's tertiary institutions. With the very high numbers of print jobs and printers within Unisa, the software provides administrators with an easy to use interface to effectively manage and optimise all the printers connected to the network. Needless to say, the software has also been implemented as a tool to aid cost cutting measures that are currently one of the top issues of every CIO's agenda.
"The former Unisa already had a high number of printers to handle the increasing volume of jobs that were generated, particularly during the registration period, which could take up to four months of the academic year," commented Kalie van Mazijk, director of computer facilities at Unisa. "We needed a cost-effective tool that would optimise the use of all the 1 000 to 1 100 printers, a tool that would report print job status, printer status and be able to report accurately on the printing patterns of each user, each department and the utilisation of each printer. Xi-Text is the perfect solution, since we have had the experience of using this product extensively and have been very satisfied with the results provided."
"The solutions that SPI offer have been tried and tested in the tertiary education arena in SA," added Chris Anderson, CEO of SPI. "Our relationship with Unisa, VUDEC and TSA goes back to the early 1990s. We pride ourselves on the high and satisfactory levels of support we provide to our customers and welcome the endorsement from Unisa of their belief and confidence in our solutions. Furthermore, these solutions have also assisted Unisa in dealing with the pains of their merger."
Unisa has also demonstrated a confidence in Unix-based operating systems by procuring HP hardware and the associated Unix HP-UX operating system.
For further information, please contact Chris Anderson at telephone +27 11 234 1560; fax +27 11 234 1387; e-mail chris@spi.co.za.
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