Scalar Floats University of Guelph on to the Cloud

Today, Scalar Decisions, the Toronto-headquartered IT solutions integrator, announced that the University of Guelph will be migrating from their on-premise email system to Scalar’s cloud-based service. With the migration of over 60,000 mailboxes, Guelph has become one of the first universities in Canada to leverage cloud computing.

The hosted email solution is Scalar Managed Zimbra. The service is built around the Zimbra Collaboration Server, an email and collaboration software that was acquired by virtualization firm VMware in 2010. University of Guelph and Scalar already have a relationship dating back to 2007, when Scalar originally moved the University to the Zimbra email and collaboration platform with an on-site deployment model.

Bo Wandschneider, Deputy CIO at Guelph, says they are moving to a hosted model to enhance service and further capitalize on cost savings, efficiencies and the increased availability and security that cloud deployment offers. “The move to Scalar Managed Zimbra puts us on a par with leading universities around the world and further demonstrates Guelph’s commitment to improving student and faculty experience while at the same time introducing significant cost savings and service efficiencies,” he said.

Canadian universities have been slow to adopt cloud services, with one reason being privacy concerns related to the US Patriot Act. However, as Scalar Managed Zimbra is an entirely Canadian hosted email solution, it offers a secure option that maintains data privacy. Combined with the increasing demand for users to be able to access email and calendars at any time from a diverse array of devices including smartphones, laptops and tablets, it is likely that many more universities will be following Guelph’s lead. Zimbra has already penetrated 200,000 organizations and has deployed over 66 million mailboxes worldwide.

"Universities and the education sector in general are starting to look at their options for delivering next-generation email to their users,” said Paul Kerr, President and CEO of Scalar Decisions, “The Scalar Managed Zimbra offering marks a significant move forward in delivering a world-class solution right here in Canada, and our unique expertise in the area of cloud enablement puts us at the forefront of this drive," he added.

"A clear trend emerging is that organizations are increasingly looking to deploy core services in the cloud,” said Grant Aitken, Area VP of VMware. “As Scalar is our lead partner for Zimbra in Canada we are delighted to join with them to offer the University of Guelph cutting-edge technologies and value-add solutions that reinforce VMware’s commitment to focusing on end-user experience.”

About Scalar Decisions

Scalar Decisions is an IT solutions integrator headquartered in Toronto with offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Ottawa and SWO. Scalar is the Canadian leader in designing, deploying and managing innovative solutions focused on data centre automation and cloud enablement. Scalar is a VMware Premier Partner and the #1 Zimbra partner in Canada. In 2010, they debuted at # 21 on the annual PROFIT 100 list of Canada’s fastest growing companies.

About the University of Guelph

The University of Guelph is ranked as one of Canada's top comprehensive universities because of its commitment to student learning and innovative research. U of G is dedicated to cultivating the essentials for quality of life — water, food, environment, animal and human health, community, commerce, culture and learning. The University community also shares a profound sense of social responsibility, an obligation to address global issues and a concern for international development.

About Zimbra

VMware Zimbra is the leader in open source, next-generation email and collaboration software. Zimbra is simplifying IT and setting the standard for web and cloud based collaboration with innovative user experiences, such as a rich AJAX web interface. Streamlined administration, advanced mobility and both on-premises and hosted cloud deployment options have quickly made Zimbra a preferred collaboration platform for businesses, service providers, government and educational institutions. With more than 66 million paid mailboxes worldwide, Zimbra is one of the largest and fastest growing email platforms.