SADA Systems and IKANO Communications

One of the first 10 Google Apps for Enterprise partners worldwide and an initial contributor to the Google Apps Open Source provisioning tool kit, SADA Systems, Inc. offers deployment and customization solutions for Google Apps. SADA specializes in Google Apps implementations for ISPs, Portals, and organizations who want to implement Partner Edition for their subscriber and member base.

IKANO Communications is an IP solutions provider of aggregated networks and private-labeled services to ISPs, organizations, and businesses, with over 1000 domains and 350,000 subscribers. IKANO decided to implement Google Apps Partner Edition in order to achieve significant cost savings, reduce administration overhead related to managing similar systems, and provide best-of-breed email and collaboration tools to their subscribers. IKANO plans to offer Google Apps Partner Edition as well as Tier 1 Customer Support for their subscribers and organizations.

CHALLENGES

IKANO Communications needed assistance in building a bridge between Google Apps and their current billing platform to provide value-add services such as email to their subscriber base while reducing administrative costs to manage infrastructure. Additionally, IKANO required a system which would seamlessly integrate with their existing provisioning and account management systems, and decrease the risk of customer churn by migrating as much of their existing data as possible over to Google Apps. It was critical that IKANO provide users a near seamless migration experience during the transition period of email dual delivery - to both the old platform and to Google Apps.

SOLUTION

SADA worked with IKANO Communications on a project to migrate 6 of their key domains, and 20,000+ users to Google Apps. SADA developed a strategy to address:

• Dual delivery
• Bulk provisioning of existing accounts.
• Integration to the existing billing and provisioning platform for creation of new accounts.
• Email and Contacts migration for existing users.
• IMAP-based email migration for existing users.
• POP3 activation and forwarders-configuration so a sub-set of users can continue to access mail the same way they are accustomed to.

The results of the project would set a standard and develop a methodology for the migration of all other domains and users to Google Apps. SADA utilized the open source provisioning toolkit as a basis for the mass provisioning portion of the project, a code base to which SADA was the original contributor.

RESULT

The methodical approach to implementing Google Apps at IKANO resulted in lower than expected impact on their call centers during the migration process. The Google Apps solution implemented by SADA will help IKANO Communications save 25% in overall infrastructure maintenance and management costs of providing Google Apps services to their subscribers.

"We are extremely pleased with the development and project management services SADA Systems, Inc. provided to IKANO. They listened to our needs and delivered on their statement of work. We look forward to our continued collaboration and partnership with SADA regarding future ISP business developed on the Google Apps Partner Edition, " says Douglas Pollei, VP Internet Strategy and Corporate Development, IKANO Communications Inc.

LTech and WildBlue Communications

Company Overview
LTech Consulting has been solving problems for both large enterprises and startup companies since 2001. Our team of dedicated search, collaboration, and web engineers empower businesses with innovative technologies such as Google Apps and the Google Search Appliance. WildBlue Communications is a satellite Internet Service Provider with more than 250,000 customers. Started in 2005 and based in Colorado, WildBlue offers satellite broadband Internet services to homes and businesses across the United States.

Challenges
After a detailed analysis of available email options including single-sign on and provisioning, WildBlue decided to move their entire customer base from their current provider to Google Apps Partner Edition. This would allow them to see significant cost savings and provide their users with the power of Google Apps. WildBlue knew from the onset that they would need an experienced partner to set up the Google Apps configuration, handle provisioning and single sign on, as well as the critical migration of e-mails and contacts for all of their customers.

Solution LTech remotely completed this Google Apps custom set up, including Google Gadget creation, and many other custom "bells and whistles" to make Google Apps fit all of WildBlue's custom needs. LTech's SyncSuite Hosted Edition was chosen for the project. Project highlights include:

• Design and implementation of a High-Availability Customer Directory to support operations, Customer Care, Client Account Management and Google Apps Authentication.Full support for separation and aggregation of core business and wholesale customers - including "skin-able" interfaces and logical customer account management.
• Design and creation of a browser based Customer Management portal allowing customers to provision their own accounts, update and view account information.Design and creation of a browser based Customer Care portal providing core business and wholesale care agents with a robust account management interface.Creation of an XML interface to allow peripheral resources to provision and update core business and wholesale accounts as well as synchronize Google Apps account information.Design, implementation and maintenance of a HA Load Balanced Managed Hosting Platform for both Production and DR Environments.

Results

• WildBlue saves more than $250,000 each month with the new solution. The solution is 100% managed by LTech in its datacenter, allowing WildBlue to focus on their core business and improving customer experience.
• Working together through the transition period of moving 300,000 people from one email system to another, LTech has built a lasting relationship with WildBlue.

Members of the WildBlue IT staff had this to say about one of our project leaders:

"We thought that this would be a good time to let you know how much we enjoy working with you and appreciate you...You are a true professional and it's a pleasure to work with someone of your caliber. We have both been in QA for several years and we really appreciate working with a developer / PM that responds to issues so quickly and communicates with QA Engineers so well...You are doing such a great job"

Appirio and LDS Living

Introduction
LDS Living produces print and online consumer magazines. They have a loyal subscriber base of over 500,000 across 3 different internet domains, plus another 70,000 users reading their magazines in print format. Appirio is a Google Enterprise Professional and Salesforce.com Consulting and AppExchange partner offering products and services to accelerate the adoption of on demand in the enterprise.

Business Challenge
Over the past 10 years, LDS Living has sought to bring new and existing readers to their sites and magazines by getting their name in front of as many potential customers as possible—one method was to work with an Internet Service Provider (ISP) to distribute email accounts with the @ldsliving.com domain. This provided additional advertising and traffic for the company. But over time, LDS Living wanted to be able to provide that domain beyond the ISP’s customer base, and lower their costs of running this program. LDS Living needed a solution to offer their customers email accounts in a manner that was automated, low-cost, and open to everyone.

Solution
To accomplish these goals, LDS Living purchased Gmail and implementation services from Appirio. Appirio built out provisioning functionality so new users can sign up to get LDS Living email accounts automatically-- Appirio developed a online environment to allow a new user on the LDS Living site to sign up and immediately use their new email account. The entire project was done in 3 days remotely.

Result
LDS Living is now off their old ISP email infrastructure and up on Gmail for all their users. They are also now able to accept new requests for email in an automated way, thereby reducing costs and increasing market awareness for the company. They are able to offer a superior email service (Gmail's spam filtering, for example) and offer their domain to every potential customer.

“LDS Living is now positioned in the market to take full advantage of Gmail for all of its current and new users thanks to the great work by Appirio. The service provided by Appirio programmers and account executives was incredibly helpful and the project was completed sooner than anticipated.” Brad Shepherd, President, LDS Living

Appirio and Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago

Introduction
Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT) is a telecommunications company owned by the national government and Cable & Wireless. Appirio is a Google Enterprise Professional and Salesforce.com Consulting and AppExchange partner offering products and services to accelerate the adoption of on demand in the enterprise.

Business Challenge
As part of their internet service offering, TSTT has long provided email service to their customers. However, the existing platform to provide that service was costly, and TSTT faced pressure from their customers to provide additional services and products.

Solution
TSTT purchased Google Apps Premier Edition along with implementation services from Appirio. Appirio provisioned 93,000 users with a custom-developed Python bulk provisioning tool modeled after Google’s own LDAP synch code. Appirio also added integration between Broadhop and Gmail to allow for provisioning of users directly from the TSTT Help Desk. Appirio migrated all the mailboxes from Courier IMAP to Gmail using Google’s IMAP migration features. The project took approximately two months to complete.

Result
TSTT has now moved from their older, more expensive
email system to a much more popular Gmail system—offering customers a 1,600 fold increase in mail capacity. Their Help Desk agents can now instantly provision new Gmail users. TSTT is also planning to roll out Start Page, GTalk, Docs and Sheets as value-added applications to their end users in the coming months at no additional charge. The business impact? Higher customer satisfaction and loyalty, lower customer churn, and lower operational costs for TSTT.

"TSTT can now offer customers a superior email solution from a brand like Google, while also offering value-added services with the rest of the Google Apps suite. The services provided by the Appirio team were critical in our ability to bring these solutions to market. The technical expertise combined with an understanding of our project objectives was key." – Ronald Mohammed – VP of IT