KWV upgrades systems

According to Xepa MD Garth Francis, the company's responsibility was to provide specialist Novell knowledge in the migration phase at KWV. “The upgrade from NetWare to Linux took place over seven weeks for completion in November 2009,” 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.

“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 which we have come to expect.”