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| > developer > success |
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| Stoneware |
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| Stoneware Web Portal* |
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New Belgium Brewing Company uses Stoneware Web Portal with Novell eDirectory™ 8.7; and NetWare® to provide real time event and policy management across multiple platforms.
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Stoneware, Inc. provides directory-enabled portal solutions for networked enterprises. Stoneware Web Portal consolidates Web applications, Web servers, databases, reports, file systems, and content into a unified portal that provides security, access control and content management. “Stoneware Web Portal leverages Novell eDirectory and LDAP to provide authentication, access control, and personalization services for all web content,” notes Rick German, President of Stoneware. “We also offer new customers a bundled version of eDirectory with every copy of our portal solution. Our company appreciates Novell’s market-leading directory for its stability, security and maturity, and we value our membership in Novell’s DeveloperNet® program for helping us deliver enterprise-class solutions.”
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situation before Stoneware solution |
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In 1991, from the basement of a Fort Collins, Colorado home, New Belgium Brewing Company (NBB) capped and delivered its first micro brews. With rapid growth powered by top-selling regional products such as Fat Tire Amber Ale*, NBB then quickly outgrew a second location at a former railroad depot, and in 1995 designed a leading-edge facility with two quality assurance labs, an automated brew house, and 6 miles of stainless steel piping. In addition, NBB staff agreed in 1998 to make the facility the first wind-powered brewery in the United States–eliminating 1,800 metric tons of CO2 emissions a year.
For Mike Weihrauch, IT director at NBB, rapid business growth and a steady diet of new technology (and free beer) add up to a challenging, fun and interesting job managing the company’s ever-expanding network. “We currently run NetWare® 6, GroupWise® 6, ZENworks® for Desktops 4, BorderManager® 3.7, Novell iFolder® and Novell eGuide solutions,” said Weihrauch. “As a former enterprise IT consultant, I’m a strong believer in using Novell network infrastructure because it is standards-based and fully interoperable with solutions from other vendors.”
Rapidly expanding organizations such as NBB often struggle to get timely and accurate data to employees and other people and groups who need it. Databases and key applications sit behind firewalls waiting for IT administrators and developers to create Web interfaces and generate HTML reports that can be securely accessed by employees, partners, customers, distributors, and suppliers. Even behind the corporate firewall, employees without a central personalized Web repository of business information struggle to stay connected with current business activity.
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situation after Stoneware solution |
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Stoneware’s Portal software solves information “time to live” problems by merging web portal technologies with HTML database reporting. Stoneware’s Database Portal provides the means to quickly create HTML reports and securely assign them to people who need the information. “We chose Stoneware’s portal because it integrates our database reporting, Citrix* published apps, GroupWise WebAccess, Novell eGuide and Novell iFolder applications into a single view for our employees, partners and suppliers, as appropriate,” noted Weihrauch. “Within minutes of configuring the Stoneware DbPortal, users can access information from any database in our organization across the Web. Another benefit offered by the Stoneware product is that it provides a cross-platform solution. I can run it on NetWare, Linux*, Mac OS* X, or Windows* server platforms.”
All information regarding user authentication, session management, Stoneware objects, database access, file system rights, are stored in eDirectory to provide a robust means of managing NBB network users and their relationship to portal resources. When users authenticate to the web portal, they are required to meet network login and password restrictions. Stoneware’s portal enforces bad password attempts, intruder detection, grace logins, account disabling, concurrent logins, and password resets. Although the client is a browser, the Stoneware Server can enforce the same restrictions as a network client. Stoneware’s SSL, proxy, Consolidated Authentication, and SwIFT (file) services make it easy to extend any intranet beyond the firewall and provide an alternative to expensive VPN services. Stoneware’s portal solution has three major components: the Stoneware Loader (server), Stoneware Relay (portal entry point), and the Stoneware client (browser) combine to provide a complete, secure portal solution that can easily extend beyond the corporate firewall and exist within any DMZ design.
Stoneware also provides several tools to build custom gadgets, components, or applications without having to write code. In addition, Stoneware’s implementation of SOAP provides XML-based access to Stoneware APIs exposed by the portal. Notes Weihrauch, “So far I’ve been using Stoneware’s pre-built, customizable components, but when I do need to write code, any application can communicate directly with the Stoneware portal using ASP, JSP, Visual Basic*, Java*, C, C++, PHP, Perl and other languages.”
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conclusion |
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Through tight directory integration, Stoneware Web Portal enables organizations to leverage existing technologies, and secure and simplify their networks while extending business information to the Web. “Thanks to Stoneware and Novell, our network users now have easy, reliable Web access to company information, anytime and anywhere,” concluded Weihrauch. “As a network administrator, application security, reliability and ease of use are paramount. Stoneware’s solution is incredibly easy to use, works seamlessly with Novell’s technologies and meets all our Web portal needs. Stoneware’s commitment to design excellence allows me to dedicate more time to business development and other important things, like enjoying my family and the outdoors here in Colorado.”
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for more information |
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©2003 Novell, Inc. All rights reserved. Novell, NetWare, BorderManager, DeveloperNet, GroupWise, Novell iFolder and ZENworks are registered trademarks and eDirectory is a trademark of Novell, Inc. in the United States and other countries.
*All other third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
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