Herzing College: Student Webmail

the client

Herzing College is a technical school with over 700 students at their flagship location in Madison, Wisconsin. As a non-residential school with class schedules that include evening courses and on-line instruction, prompt and effective student communication is essential to the smooth operation of the institution.

the challenge

Mailings and student mailboxes for paper communications wasn't effective enough for timely information distribution to Herzing's students. Herzing College uses a Microsoft Windows 2000 based network for on-site student network access. However, client access licenses for a Microsoft Exchange email system was cost prohibitive -- at over $3200 for 700 students.

the sureblue solution

Sureblue designed and implemented an open-source solution, allowing them to give email account access to every student at a very low price point. We put together a system that presented a comparable level of functionality by using SquirrelMail for web mailbox access combined with sendmail and IMAP for mail management -- all running on a RedHat Linux operating system. But the coolest part is the glue we put it all together with! A neat little piece of open source software called Winbind, from the Samba group, allows the webmail server to use the Windows 2000 accounts for webmail logins. There was no need to administer anything on the mail server - no new accounts, no messy password problems.

Total cost to Herzing College: server hardware + labor.
Total benefit to students: beyond measure.

Discover Color:
Custom Appletalk/Windows File Sharing System

the client

Discover Color is a printing company in McFarland, Wisconsin. As high-quality digital printers, they work with absolutely enormous files -- and use a lot of servers to store them. They also love Macs.

the challenge

Unfortunately, Macs don't always like to talk to PC's very well, so sharing their big print files between PC's and Mac's can be a big problem. To bridge the gap, they turned to Linux. Linux is more agnostic when it comes to sharing files; it doesn't play favorites. However, Linux speaks its own file-services language. Most companies, include Discover Color, don't relish the thought of adding another platform to the mix.

the sureblue solution

We made their Linux server sing, working out the kinks in the Linux file services for Windows and Mac, and allowing them to keep one set of accounts for both user camps. Now, employees use one account to access their files on their PC or Mac, and Linux stands in the middle and acts as the mediator for both. They even have resources left over to use the Linux server to run their web applications!

Discover Color:
Pleasant Company Estimating System

the client

Discover Color does a great deal of business with Pleasant Company, a manufacturer of dolls, books, and dresses for young girls. Their product development cycle can span from months to years, and this timeframe can significantly affect business costs. The sooner that Discover Color knows what Pleasant Company will print, the cheaper Discover Color can acquire material and personnel to meet that need. These savings are passed along to Pleasant Company, and everyone goes home happier. To make estimation and communication easier, Discover Color wanted to formalize the process by creating a web-based application to build and store print estimates. Sureblue Studios designed and implemented the estimate system using Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP, with a healthy topping of JavaScript. We cleaned up and reproduced the printed estimate forms in a web format, adding functionality to automatically tally totals, check for valid values, and send e-mails when critical changes or activities took place. Everyone who works with the estimates has a secure log-in, and every change to an estimate is logged and tracking. The whole process has been streamlined, resulting in estimates that are more accurate, updates that are more timely, and communication channels that are crystal clear.