Time flies when you’re having fun…
Back in August, when we were at VMworld, Novell PartnerNet came by our booth and invited us to take part in a PartnerPod, a Q&A session about how companies leverage Novell technologies to create business services and solutions that stand out in the market. Pierre agreed to speak – the trick was to find a slot in his hectic schedule…
Finally, a couple of weeks ago, Pierre did a great single-take phone interview with Dan Dufault, Marketing Director for Novell PartnerNet. As I was listening him trace Messaging Architects' decade-long partnership with Novell, it just struck me: we've been in the collaboration space for a long time – we started when fax, not email, was the killer app… The progression from faxing to messaging, building blocks for a better GroupWise, the mission critical nature of email, the need for security, archiving and compliance, the relationship between technology and policy, to the concept of email risk management. We sure have come along a long way: hear it from Pierre himself.
The timing of this walk down memory lane was also meaningful – the Novell podcast happened just as I was working on announcements about our upcoming product releases. The message we are highlighting: how our platform enhances and extends Exchange 2010. No, we haven't given up on GroupWise; just have a look at our success stories… some the biggest GroupWise accounts are using our email risk management solutions to cut costs, improve productivity, and ensure secure and compliant collaboration: Johnson Matthey – 6,500 users, Western Athletic Clubs – 1,500 users, Nelson Madela Bay Metro – 4,000 users, University of Dundee – 28,000 users and Blackpool and the Fylde College – 16,500 users, not to mention Novell itself – 4,000 users. Our GroupWise Gurus have 80+ years of combined GroupWise expertise.
At the same time, as Pierre points out in his interview, one of the reasons that has made us so resilient as a company is our flexibility to adapt to new customer needs and address new challenges as the role of email evolved to become the mission-critical application it is today. In the early days, we took the platform we knew inside out and focused on becoming trusted advisors to our clients. With that mission in mind, our expertise grew: first anti-spam and anti-virus, then email security at the gateway, archiving, discovery… until it was no longer about point solutions, but about operationalizing email risk management.
It's natural that as we grew as a company and developed our skills on the policy and identity side of things, we also expanded our technical knowledge to encompass other enterprise email platforms and technology frameworks. That's why today, in addition to our GroupWise heavy hitters, our team boasts certified Microsoft engineers and developers, and virtualizaton experts. This allows us to continue to serve our clients as they evolve, regardless of the direction they choose.
It's funny how sometimes coincidences are almost uncannily spot on to put things in perspective. As Pierre was summarizing 10 years of collaboration with Novell in 10 minutes, I was talking to customers who were using our products on Exchange. And it made me think – makes sense. We are the Messaging Architects and the email risk management experts. No matter what your email platform is, GroupWise or Exchange, we've got you covered.
– Roumiana Deltcheva
