St. Michael’s University School Increases OWA Usage with Messageware OWA Suite
June 24, 2008, Toronto, Canada – Like most education officials and young people today, the staff and students at St. Michael’s University School, a private coeducational, independent day and boarding school, needed a convenient and effective method to collaborate. The elite school located on the tip of Canada’s Vancouver Island, needed an easy and low-maintenance way for their 920 K-12 students and faculty to email, coordinate meetings and open and view attachments regardless which of their 600 computers they were using.
The organization uses Microsoft Office Exchange with Outlook Web Access (OWA), but found it lacking certain features that were necessary to make it the communications hub they desired. Specifically, they needed a way for faculty to easily coordinate personal calendars for meetings and events. Students, who often have to review worksheets, test results, diagrams, and slides from teachers, needed to be able to open and view file attachments whether or not the associated application was on the PC they were using. Email usage suffered as well from the lack of spell check and publicly-available contact lists.
Searching online, the IT staff found the Messageware OWA Suite for Exchange 2007. The world’s leading provider of enterprise productivity and security solutions for OWA, Messageware (www.messageware.com) enterprise software injects Outlook-like functionality into native OWA. Finding no alternatives that offered the same wealth of features, St. Michael’s quickly selected the Messageware OWA Suite 2007.
Messageware OWA Suite 2007 is a comprehensive package of Outlook Web Access features, installed on the Microsoft Exchange Server that adds both security and productivity functionality to OWA. Among the products in Messageware OWA Suite 2007 is Messageware CalendarShare, which not only adds side-by-side views of shared and personal calendars but also allows users to delegate rights to others to view and manage personal calendars on their behalf. Messageware AttachView, another product within the Suite, converts attachments to secure HTML pages so users can view files securely without needing the application. Over 300 different file types are supported in AttachView, with others added regularly. In addition to these and other features, Messageware OWA Suite for Exchange 2007 includes Plus Pack, an email enhancement package that makes OWA more like desktop Outlook, with an Outlook-like address book, global address list contacts, roaming personal dictionaries and more.
According to Robert Przybylski, Computer Services Manager for the school, installation took only a half-hour and went live immediately. “The main thing I’ve heard from the students and staff is that OWA is ten times faster than our old solution. I’ve never had one person complain,” Przybylski said. “When you’re working with a server-based platform like Microsoft Exchange, you don’t want to have to be installing software all over campus. The best thing about Messageware OWA Suite 2007 from an IT standpoint is that it is simple to install and works properly. You’d never know OWA has third-party software in it.”
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About Messageware
Founded in 1993 and headquartered in Toronto, Canada, Messageware develops and markets solutions that enhance and secure Outlook Web Access. A trusted Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and a Global Exchange ISV for 15 years, their applications give companies of all sizes the ability to enhance, secure, and customize OWA. Messageware products give organizations a greater return on their Microsoft Exchange investment, delivering solutions for over 2500 enterprises and four million users worldwide, including Fortune 500 companies and industries such as banking, education, financial services, government, healthcare and legal services. For more
information, visit www.messageware.com.
Messageware Press Contact: Carol Arnold, Arnold Communications, (877) 718-4604 x2, [email protected].