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* The Southern Ontario Town of Cobourg adopted Novell's Small Business Suite 6.5 for free - after purchasing GroupWise licences for 60 users. The overall cost came to about $12,000, says John Grozelle, Cobourg's IT services supervisor. No extra hardware was required.

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* In late 2003, Cobourg almost went ahead with an upgrade to its Microsoft-based system. The town had been using MS Mail for about six years, covering about 65 computers in four major clusters, as well as home and " mobile users. Grozelle says he "stumbled" across the Novell package while doing his research, which included word-of-mouth reports from other public-sector organizations. He estimates the town saved $10,000 as a result. "It's a totally different model from what I've seen being used," he says.