Emirates Media chooses Novell

EMI is currently in a transitional phase, moving from a public-service model to a semi private-business model, and simultaneously reducing its dependency on federal funding. In organizational terms, a key focus is the integration of its three constituent parts and its new media division.

Prior to EMI's incorporation, the print, radio and TV divisions each operated in a largely autonomous manner, and there was little integration of processes or information between them. The new organization looked to bring together the various operations into a consistent whole, and to adopt a single corporate IT strategy.

"We had a solution which could perfectly fit their requirement. The opportunity was ripe, so we proposed and implemented the solution and they are happy. I am pleased that we could offer an appropriate, cost effective, reliable solution as per their needs'

said, Jamie Partington, Country Manager, Novell Middle East.

The longer-term strategic goal was to build a robust yet flexible network infrastructure capable of supporting EMI's 'Media Anywhere' concept. This aims to enable all content produced and developed anywhere in the organization to be repurposed for use in other media.

With several national daily newspapers in its portfolio, together with time-sensitive television and Internet content, EMI requires very high availability and reliability.

"Our 'Media Anywhere' strategy needed to be built on rock-solid, yet flexible, foundations," said Derek Holland, Head of Information Technology at EMI. "With Novell solutions at the heart of our infrastructure, we are creating a flexible framework that is robust, easy-to-manage, and capable of supporting our dynamic business."

The first stage in the solution was to upgrade the inter-campus network, to enable it to carry high volumes of media without impacting network performance or reliability. In parallel, EMI used NetWare® and Novell eDirectory™ to centralize network authentication and control, creating a single central IT management function.

"Integration across the organization, made it hard to share and repurpose media content," said Holland. "Novell has enabled us to centralize all file services and manage our IT infrastructure from a single point, with much better visibility of costs."

"We in the Technology Directorate are always challenging ourselves to boost the efficiency and effectiveness of our working environment, by implementing best practices and international-standard ICT systems," said Abdul Hadi Abdullah, Deputy Director of Technology at EMI. "That's why we have chosen Novell to help us in the Directory domain."

The next stage in the solution was to improve desktop management and security. In the past, EMI's fragmented structure had largely prevented centralized control over desktop resources, making it difficult to support users effectively and protect corporate information.

"We wanted to give users role-based access to the tools that they specifically need, and to prevent unsupportable local variations to systems," said Neville Bryan, Network and Security Co-ordinator at EMI. "Novell ZENworks has enabled us to take full control of all users across the entire region, and to deliver applications and services in a very cost-effective manner."

EMI has rolled out SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 on five servers to support infrastructure services and file sharing, and plans to deploy Linux on desktops in the near future.

"With SUSE Linux, we will have a greater choice of application vendors than before, and we anticipate lower support costs," said Holland. "We're now looking with interest at Novell Linux Desktop, which comes bundled with much of the productivity software our users need - at much lower cost than the software we currently use."

"By enabling us to keep information flowing smoothly through the organization at all times, Novell is helping EMI make our 'Media Anywhere' vision a reality."