The World Conservation Union (IUCN)

The World Conservation Union (IUCN) is concerned with species loss and ecosystem integrity. Its activities include generating and disseminating knowledge about biodiversity, promoting a better understanding of the role of social equity in biodiversity conservation, supporting efficient and equitable governance, and promoting sustainable and efficient management of ecosystems.

IUCN is a truly global organization. Founded in 1948, it is the only conservation organization to have United Nations General Assembly observer status. An organization made up of organizations, IUCN had 1,035 members in April 2004, including 76 states, 114 government agencies, 735 national NGOs, 77 international NGOs and 33 Affiliates. These members are present in 143 countries.

With its international headquarters in Gland, Switzerland, IUCN has more than 1,000 employees, distributed in more than 45 offices worldwide, and more than 10,000 volunteers working through a network of six commissions.

The Importance of E-mail

Not surprisingly, this global organization depends heavily on email. "You can imagine, with an organization that spans the world's time zones, that email is the one tool everybody uses to keep themselves updated," says Dan Hinckley, IUCN's electronic communications coordinator. "If the mail server stops, we start getting calls from Costa Rica and South Africa in about 10 minutes."

When IUCN's staff members are traveling, they use CGNET's Traveler's Access Service (TAS) to access their email. "The staff travel s with laptops, which are their workstations," Hinckley says. "They have all their email with them. Using TAS, they can download their email, work offline on the plane or in their hotels, then connect to send and receive again."

IUCN has been using TAS for more than five years. "All our users are very pleased with it," Hinckley says. "One of our best examples is the director of our West African office. He's been using it from all over West Africa almost for as long as we've had these accounts. He's mentioned that it's made a lot of things possible that would be incredibly difficult otherwise. For me, that's signature testimony. You can imagine getting connected in Europe or North America, but when you can get it sub-Sahel, you know it's working properly."

TAS and iPass

CGNET's Traveler's Access Service is based on iPass Inc.'s roaming Internet access service, which brings together more than 40,000 wired and wireless access points worldwide in one easy-to-use dialer. With it, depending on the capabilities of the user's computer, users can access dial-up, 802.11 wireless and broadband Ethernet connections. Usage from all over the world is recorded and billed conveniently.

Since it was founded in 1983, CGNET has specialized in working with foundations, nonprofits and NGOs with global scope, serving clients in more than 90 countries. "We like the fact that CGNET has worked in countries where we have people," Hinckley says, "and it's also been advantageous that CGNET is used to working with nonprofits. Whenever I call with a question, I always get a positive response and a willingness to find a solution."