Leicester's De Montfort University is introducing a personalised web portal allowing its 27,000 students and staff access to relevant study information and messages from any location.

Students using the system, based on Novell technology, will be able to sign in securely and access university resources and computer networks from internet cafes or home PCs, outside normal working hours.

Novell's eDirectory product will be used to create a digital identity for all students and staff joining the university, meaning thousands of new students will be able to access the web portal as soon as they enrol.

'After looking at IT requirements we decided we needed a new learning and teaching environment which can service not just full-time students, but also ones on distance learning courses and at other remote colleges, without discrimination,' said De Montfort IT director Roy Adams.

'Many students need to work as well as study these days, so it might mean they need to access course updates in the evening.'

Identity management tools and Novell NetStorage and iFolder remote storage products will make it easier for students to study across different faculties, and use single sign-on to access all relevant departments.

De Montfort is looking to further reduce its investment in hardware by consolidating operating systems.

The university has been running a mixture of NetWare, Unix and Windows operating systems, but is switching to Novell's Open Enterprise Server, which runs both Linux and Netware.

It also hopes to reduce software licensing costs by moving to the Linux platform.

'At the moment we have islands of resource but with this system we will be able to connect them all,' said Chris Semmens, De Montfort server report team leader.

By reducing the need to maintain multiple operating platforms across different departments, the university will be able to allocate more IT resources to supporting distance learning needs.

De Montfort is also using Novell's ZENworks resource management products to handle new applications, security updates and basic helpdesk calls.

Using ZENworks, IT staff will be able to distribute new software and automate simple tasks from their desks, without needing to visit different parts of the campus.