Novell, Hewlett-Packard And Xerox Unveil Advanced Print Technology For NetWare 4

Press Release

NetWare Distributed Print Services Will Provide Network Administrators, Users and Developers With Powerful New Printing Capabilities

Brainshare '95 Technology Development Conference,
Salt Lake City -- March 20, 1995 -- Hewlett-Packard Co. and Xerox Corporation joined with Novell, Inc. today to unveil its next-generation printing architecture for NetWare, the NetWare Distributed Print Services (NDPS) architecture. Novell partnered with HP and Xerox to develop the NDPS framework, a robust network printing environment that will improve ease-of-use, advance network users' printing capabilities and simplify network administrators' output device management in networks of all sizes.

The extensible architecture also enables printer manufacturers and ISVs to create hardware and software solutions that will further increase network user and administrator productivity. By drawing on NetWare 4.1 core services such as NetWare Directory Services (NDS) and distributed security, NDPS services will allow users and administrators to monitor printing resources and activities across a variety of network printing devices, providing an advanced level of functionality not possible in previous NetWare versions.

"With the introduction of the NDPS architecture, Novell is raising the bar on network printing functionality by giving users and administrators greater control over their printing environments," said Richard King, executive vice president, NetWare Systems Group of Novell. "NDPS will let millions of NetWare users access powerful new printing capabilities from within their favorite desktop applications. And, we've designed the architecture to help network administrators significantly reduce print resource maintenance by simplifying printer installation and management. As the network printing software leader, we're pleased to partner with printing industry hardware leaders HP and Xerox to deliver advanced print solutions to our common customer base in workgroup and enterprise environments."

"To meet our customers' needs for simple, transparent network printing, it became clear early on that printing needed to be an integrated part of the computing environment," said John Stedman, general manager, Network Printer Division of Hewlett-Packard. "HP created the network printer category and has worked with Novell since 1988 to make network printing as easy as personal printing. Now with NDPS technology, we are leaping to the next level of ease-of-use and manageability by integrating HP JetAdmin-like printer management functionality directly into the architecture of NDPS. This transparent integration provides HP and Novell's shared customers with real-time printer status, improved document manageability and seamless compatibility with existing and future HP printing products. We are confident our long-standing partnership with Novell will continue to result in products that meet HP's vision for intelligently simple network printing."

"As a leader in production and enterprise printing, Xerox intends to bring more robust printing capabilities to NetWare environments," said Jim Lesko, president, Office Document Systems, Xerox Corporation. "We believe that our alliance with Novell significantly advances our network printing strategy and market position. In partnership with Novell, we will benefit customers who print in a network environment, whether in a small workgroup or a large enterprise. Xerox will be one of the first two companies to integrate NDPS technology with our software and hardware products, providing customers with a new level of simple, reliable and productive printing. NDPS is a key building block in our strategy to provide enhanced document printing services and network printing coherence from the desktop to large production printing."

NetWare Distributed Print Services

The NDPS technology provides the printing services foundation for Novell's vision of pervasive computing, giving network users and administrators in organizations of all sizes transparent access to all network printing resources at any time, from any place. Based on the ISO 10175 DPA (Document Printing Application) industry standard, the technology is a fully distributed client/server print architecture that will be incorporated into NetWare 4.

NDPS Will Simplify Network Administration

When NDPS products ship early next year, network administrators will be able to reduce printer support requirements through enhanced control and management of network resources. NDPS will cut installation time by easing printer hardware configuration, and ease maintenance by enhancing communication with print devices through full bi-directional communication. To further simplify management, network administrators will be able to easily supervise all network print devices from within Novell's NWAdmin or standard SNMP consoles. NDPS will also give users more control over their individual print jobs, reducing network administration desktop and printer support visits.

NDPS Will Give Users Powerful New Printing Capabilities

The technology will provide network users with access to simple yet powerful printing capabilities that build on their existing NetWare printing knowledge. NDPS will enable network users to have greater control over their print jobs, even after those jobs are sent to printers. Novell will work in concert with third-party vendors to enable NDPS to make available the necessary printer fonts, forms and other "soft" resources to users, printers and applications. In addition, NDPS gives users access to network printer features to select the optimal printing device for a specific print job (duplex printing, stapling, legal size, etc.).

Robust Development Environment

Novell is opening the NDPS architecture for printer manufacturers to build feature-rich printers, and independent software developers can create advanced print-aware applications. Using consistent APIs available in the upcoming NDPS software development kit and development utilities available through the Novell Embedded Systems Technology (NEST) hardware development kit, printer vendors can expose their individual printer features and functions through NDPS to users. Software developers will be able to leverage NDPS for users to choose printing options directly within applications; identify the best printer for a particular document; and even print multi-part complex documents (envelope, letterhead stapled to second-sheet paper, for example). Developers can also create software packages designed to ease printer management and support.

Availability

The first release of NetWare Distributed Print Services will be available in the first quarter of 1996 as an add-on module to NetWare 4.1 environments. The technology will also be integrated into the next major release of NetWare. At BrainShare '95, Novell will present technology and architecture overviews for ISVs. Later this year, Novell will host a developer's conference for ISVs. Concurrent with product shipment, Novell will deliver an NDPS software developer's kit to enable all interested ISVs to create robust new printing applications. Shortly after the first customer shipment, the Novell Extended Networks Division will deliver a NEST development kit for printer manufacturers to embed NDPS technology in their products. Pricing for the NetWare add-on module and the developer's kit has not yet been set. Interested customers and developers should contact 1-800-NETWARE for more information.

HP will ship gateway solutions to enable management of existing HP printers, available concurrently with Novell's add-on module. Xerox plans its first NDPS printer to be available in conjunction with the shipment of NDPS, scheduled for the first quarter of 1996. HP and Xerox will also co-market NDPS with Novell.