Johannesburg, 10 Dec 2009
Cape Town's Xepa Consulting is putting its Novell specialty to good use as it has been brought in to assist in a major systems upgrade for the Datacentrix client KWV.
As the Paarl-headquartered wine and spirits maker migrates its operating systems from Novell Netware to Novell Open Enterprise Server in a project led by Datacentrix, empowered company Xepa is contributing its skills in support of the project.
According to Xepa managing director Garth Francis, the company's responsibility was to provide specialist Novell knowledge in the migration phase at KWV. “The upgrade from Netware to Novell Linux took place over seven weeks for completion in November,” he says.
KWV IT manager Jan Woudberg explains that when Novell discontinued its NetWare product line, it was faced with a choice of opting for Microsoft technology or to align with the Linux strategy being taken with Novell's acquisition of SuSe. “What tilted the balance was the level of value and price offered by Novell OES. Not only do we get the operating system, but also a range of application software, which results in a substantial cost benefit,” he says.
Enjoying a longstanding relationship with Datacentrix, Francis explains that Xepa has routinely worked with the large IT company by providing specialist Novell services. “We've successfully completed a number of smaller projects with Datacentrix; additionally, we have supported KWV as required over some time. This specific project started with a proposal about year ago and is considered a large-scale, strategic initiative for an organisation that has always been a big Novell user,” he relates.
On that point, Francis says KWV has used the Netware operating system for nearly two decades, as well as the GroupWise e-mail solution. “With the Novell's acquisition of SuSe Linux, the successor to Netware is the Linux-based Open Enterprise Server (OES). This project entails an upgrade of all servers for KWV nationally; at its Paarl headquarters, as well as at its Worcestor and Johannesburg offices.”
Noting that it had - and has - full confidence in the ability of Xepa to install and support Novell solutions, based on the longstanding relationship, Woudberg says his small IT department generally handles most aspects of software and support on the platform it has come to trust. “For some years, we have looked to Xepa for its expertise to support larger or more complex projects where we may not have the depth or breadth of skill,” he explains. “With this implementation, of course, we were moving into quite a new direction. However, since Xepa had already completed some implementations with others of its clients, we were confident of receiving the same level of service and attention to detail that we have come to expect.”
The advantages of the migration include the fact that Novell OES is, as a current version, fully secure and supported. “Notably, KWV has reaffirmed its confidence in the Novell platform. This deployment has a substantial South African organisation running its complete operations on a Linux-based operating system. In a very real way, this is a confirmation of the high expectations that many in the industry have had for Linux,” Francis notes.
The choice of the Linux-based OES, continues Woudberg, is resulting in immediate value in terms of the bundled Open Office software, ZenWorks for software deployment and GroupWise 8 solutions. Additionally, limitations in how the now-obsolete NetWare addressed hardware are overcome in OES. “We're very satisfied with the solution; strategically, as a company which runs SAP on UNIX, we have taken note that it [SAP] has indicated that Novell's is the preferred Linux for its applications. This bodes well for a shift of our ERP onto the same platform as our firewall, e-mail and archiving systems; in due course, it is possible that we will have a complete Linux-based environment, which means a single skills set for the whole operation.”
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