| | | Paul Spiro, Managing Partner, Gadens | | During the Vision in Practice Seminars, held nationally, Managing Director of Locus, Mike Russell, spoke about how law firms are addressing the escalating cost of ownership and support of their systems. Mr Russell presented to groups of Senior Partners and Law Practice Managers about the advantages of the Linux-based solutions over in-house supported systems that use platforms such as Windows NT or Novell. “The Locus IntegrITy Server was released as a service option for firms ranging in size from 300 lawyers to as small as 5 users. IntegrITy Server provides a single point of support of the practice management system and a reduced total cost of ownership (TCO)”, Mr Russell said. IntegrITy Server uses the Linux operating system in conjunction with special Control Software developed by Locus. This combination increases the speed of daily processing functions and system maintenance tasks. The control software also provides access to the Locus Practice Management System via the Internet and for Internet support of the system. It can be implemented in one day on the client’s hardware or Locus can supply hardware. Gadens in Brisbane is a user of the Locus IntegrITy Server. Mr Paul Spiro, the Managing Partner of Gadens Brisbane, remarked; “Gadens is a law firm with over 50 lawyers and a total of 110 concurrent users on the practice management server. The firm runs thousands of matters and if the system is down for any amount of time it hurts the firm and its clients. Since Locus implemented the IntegrITy Server there has been nil downtime and the time for all maintenance tasks has been slashed from hours to just a few minutes. Locus provided a service guarantee with the IntegrITy Server and they have lived up to all of the promises.” IntegrITy Server tackles the total cost of ownership (TCO) problem in a number of ways. Firstly, there are no operating system licence fees for the practice management system. Law firms can add users to the server without additional cost and with the Locus software there are no client-access or SQL licences. Locus technicians have worked with Linux for years. They add value by building support tools and selecting driver settings that make the practice management system very efficient. This allows Locus to offer a fixed-price, service guarantee. Locus’ Technical Director, Jim Hollingum said: “Locus’ support model provides daily e-mail system health reports and support over the Internet. It is automatic and reliable. Our Helpline Team supports the application software, operating system and hardware for a fixed annual subscription. Analysis of the cost savings clearly demonstrates that Locus can provide a new server, application software, operating system and maintenance for less than the monthly cost for some experts to perform routine support of the server alone. Another advantage is that clients do not need in-house Linux experts to achieve reliable service.” Many IT consultants and IT managers are sceptical about Linux. Owen Hile, Managing Director of Syncroplex Systems, stated with confidence that he is now factoring the IntegrITy Server into his disaster prevention and recovery plans for his law firm clients. Mr Hile said, “My company is responsible for providing technical support to large and small law firms. One of my larger clients had an audit of their disaster recovery plan by their insurance company. We had to bring the entire system down and back up again in a simulated disaster scenario. I inserted the IntegrITy Server CD into a new server and ran it up to full operating status for over 100 users in less than one hour. Locus’ Linux Control Software is very smart and ensures that database maintenance, backup and recovery for the practice management server is fully automated. This has saved my company money on its fixed-price support contract and helped me to put together a comprehensive disaster recovery plan for my client.” Gadens in Sydney, Brisbane and Papua New Guinea have all now adopted the Locus Linux IntegrITy Server to run their Locus Practice Management Systems. City and suburban law firms in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur are using the Linux IntegrITy Server. Locus supports all of these clients with a fixed-fee service. Please click here to visit our website: www.gadens.com.au  Review our range of legal software
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