Polytechnic Modernizes Communication and Collaboration Platform to Save $300,000

In today’s post we hear from Croatia-based Polytechnic of Zagreb on why Microsoft was the best decision for their institution in their move to cloud computing!

“With Live@edu, we communicate more efficiently, and daily operations function better than ever. The system blocks almost all spam and viruses, and users can access their data from anywhere.” --Slaven Crnjac, Head of Microsoft & PHP Education for NetAkademija

Polytechnic of Zagreb
Polytechnic of Zagreb is Croatia’s oldest and largest polytechnic, providing more than 5,000 students with undergraduate and graduate programs in engineering, computing, and information technologies. The school also hosts the NetAkademija (NetAcademy), which offers lifelong continuing education and certification programs for IT professionals.

IT Challenges
Although Polytechnic of Zagreb trains students on the latest IT developments, the school’s own communication infrastructure was not meeting the demands of modern education. The school ran an aging email solution on a single Linux server, with no online collaboration capabilities and poor virus and spam protection. “The system was slow, mailbox sizes were limited, and students had trouble connecting to the service,” says Slaven Crnjac, Head of Microsoft and PHP Education for NetAkademija at Polytechnic of Zagreb.

IT Solution and Benefits
In 2009, Polytechnic of Zagreb decided to replace its unsatisfactory email system with a more modern, full-featured messaging platform that would be both cost-effective and easy for its IT staff of five employees to maintain. The school began a six-month evaluation of two solutions: Microsoft Live@edu and Google Apps for Education on aspects of system implementation processes, and the ease of integrating prospective solutions with existing client applications and services, including some open source and Linux-based systems.

Along with deployment and compatibility issues, the school looked at the range of available features, and Live@edu was the clear winner with 10-gigabyte mailboxes, access to Windows Live Messenger and Microsoft Office Web Apps, 25 gigabytes of storage through Windows Live SkyDrive, and access to the Microsoft Outlook Live messaging and collaboration client. “Students can use SkyDrive and Office Web Apps to easily share and collaborate on documents,” says Crnjac. “And using Outlook Live prepares them to work in one of the many businesses that use Microsoft Outlook. The Live@edu components also work seamlessly with Microsoft Office 2007 and Microsoft Office 2010, which are important applications at the school. When we tested Google Apps, the client integration was not good.”

Cost, security, and accessibility were also factors in the school’s decision to deploy Live@edu. “Security is very strong, and it offers great tools for eliminating spam and viruses,” notes Crnjac. “We also like that students and teachers can access the system from anywhere in the world on a variety of devices, and that Live@edu offers accounts for all users at no cost.”

By moving to Live@edu, Polytechnic of Zagreb has saved money, simplified system administration, and given its students and staff a powerful suite of modern business communication and collaboration tools. The institute also expects to save U.S.$300,000 over the next three years with Live@edu. “We have decreased power consumption, reduced the need for software licenses, and eliminated hardware requirements for running our own email system,” says Crnjac. “Live@edu can be administered part-time by one person, and we are using the money we are saving to educate teachers on new technologies.”

Read the full case study