Success Story: British Columbia Institute Of Technology (BCIT)

Challenge
As the use of personal digital assistants (PDAs) proliferated among its administrative and executive staff, as well as some faculty members, BCIT recognized the need to deploy a solution to enable PDA users to easily and reliably access the institute's Lotus Notes groupware applications. Ideally, the solution would be server-based and accommodate the variety of PDA operating systems and devices already in use.

Solution
After evaluating several potential programs, BCIT selected Extended Systems mobile groupware solution, creating a centralized, server-based data synchronization and management environment for access to Lotus Notes. BCIT also worked with the technical support team at Extended Systems to develop and deploy functionality that allows mobile users to synchronize phone directories to the contact management software on their PDAs.

Measure of Success
The Extended Systems solution allowed BCIT to centralize PDA support and better manage troubleshooting. The ease of use and functionality afforded by the solution is encouraging as more and more PDA users request the functionality on their devices. BCIT currently has deployed the solution to over 60 users with the potential for hundreds more. With a single synchronization solution to manage and support, the IT department can now respond quickly and confidently to help desk calls regarding PDAs. IT professionals also appreciate the stability of the server in managing the data.