Novell Helps Catholic Healthcare West Strengthen Security and Compliance Initiatives, Reduce Costs

WALTHAM, Mass., Feb. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Novell (Nasdaq: NOVL) today announced that Catholic Healthcare West, a 9,500-bed hospital system, has implemented a Novell(R) solution to increase security and strengthen its compliance initiatives. The organization centralized identity management with Novell Identity Manager 3 to ensure only authorized users have access to patient data in accordance with HIPAA regulations, reducing administration time by 70 percent. The hospital system also anticipates saving $1.5 million by deploying Novell's SUSE(R) Linux Enterprise Server for a more flexible, open environment.

"We operate in a highly regulated environment where the requirements are always changing," said Eric Leader, chief technology architect at Catholic Healthcare West. "We simply had to consolidate identity management or we would see a huge increase in time spent managing regulatory issues. The identity and access management solution provided by Novell helps us stay ahead of the curve."

With Novell, identity information is managed centrally across applications running on multiple platforms including Windows*, multiple versions of UNIX* and Linux*. Catholic Healthcare West IT staff can now conduct timely audits to track who is accessing information and when -- an important component to complying with HIPAA regulations.

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server has improved performance for several mission-critical systems, while reducing hardware costs and server administration time by a significant 25 percent. A solid disaster recovery strategy is also an integral part of HIPAA compliance. With a Linux and open source strategy, Catholic Healthcare West is implementing redundant systems faster and at a lower cost than with propriety platforms.

Susan Heystee, president of Novell Americas, said, "In healthcare, disparate applications can easily number into the hundreds, and an integrated approach to security and identity management is crucial. Ultimately, an enterprise-wide strategy that supports a staged implementation to identity management will help leverage and secure existing applications and enterprise resources." About Novell

Novell, Inc. delivers Software for the Open Enterprise(TM). With more than 50,000 customers in 43 countries, Novell helps customers manage, simplify, secure and integrate their technology environments by leveraging best-of-breed, open standards-based software. With over 20 years of experience, more than 5,000 employees, 5,000 partners and support centers around the world, Novell helps customers gain control over their IT operating environment while reducing cost. More information about Novell can be found at http://www.novell.com . NOTE: Novell, and SUSE are registered trademarks and Software for the Open Enterprise is a trademark of Novell, Inc. in the United States and other countries. * Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. All other third party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.