27 July 2008
ANS Group Plc Headquarters

ANS Group Named 1st UK Support Partner in Unique Novell Programme

The Board of ANS Group, a leading UK Technology Solutions group, is pleased to announce it has been chosen as the first UK partner for Novell's Certified Identity and Security Management (ISM) Support Partner Programme. This is a unique certification that allows partners to give unprecedented levels of support to Novell's security and identity solutions customers across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

The programme will give ANS Group full access to Novell's ISM expertise - unlimited technical support from Novell for advanced (L3) requests, 24x7 access and a response time within one hour - giving ANS Group customers complete peace of mind. Partners in the programme also get access to a dedicated Novell Support Engineer for customer deployments of over 2000 users, giving them a personalised support relationship direct with Novell.

The new technical support framework eliminates the need for customers with higher support requirements to purchase a separate agreement with Novell, and allows customers to benefit from a single point of contact with the partner for support requests. Additionally, support can be delivered to customers in their local language, eliminating potential communication barriers and ensuring that requests are resolved as quickly and accurately as possible.

Novell will also actively promote the ISM Support Partner specialisation to customers seeking this specific skill set, identifying possible new revenue streams for partners.

Johan Rosius, Vice President, Alliances, Novell EMEA commented.

"When it comes to technical support, customers want things as simple as possible: a single point of contact with their supplier, a single relationship to maintain and quick and easy solutions to their problems. Partners often need specialised training and expertise in order to provide this level of support"

"Novell's new Certified Support Partner programme makes life easier for customers and addresses all these concerns by giving our partners the backup they need to make it happen."  

Scott Fletcher , Chairman, ANS Group, commented:

"We're delighted to be the first UK partner in the programme, as awarded by Novell. The certification is testament to our support infrastructure, standard of engineers and capacity for problem solving, and this new level of technical support greatly increases our offering. It will also be a new marketing tool for the Group as Novell will promote the specialisation to potential new customers"