Novell Partners With Smithsonian Museum And ComputerWorld To Put Innovation Awards On The Internet

World Wide Web site showcase technology's impact on society over past seven years

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- JUNE 5, 1995 -- Novell, Inc., in celebration of its sponsorship of the Computerworld Smithsonian Awards, today announced its underwriting of the Novell Computerworld Smithsonian Innovation Network, a new interactive site on the Internet's World Wide Web. The goal of the network is to make the thousands of documents and landmark case studies collected by the Computerworld Smithsonian Awards Program since its inception in 1989 available to the widest possible audience of innovators, influencers, users and students.

This document archive, previously only available at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., will now be accessible in electronic form to millions of Internet users worldwide. This initiative helps accelerate Novell's pervasive computing vision of connecting people with people and the information they need anytime, anyplace. As the worldwide leader in network software, Novell is the natural choice for partnering with the Smithsonian and Computerworld in putting this exhibit online.

Novell and its partners plan to use the network to provide an online communication vehicle for technology innovators, students, scholars and business people to encourage new innovation, enhance future collaboration and provide a context for how information technology is changing our society. Novell will work over the next three years to build and maintain The Innovation Network using Novell's market leading tools and system software to create and operate the Web site. The information on The Innovation Network is designed to chart the flow of IT information over time, organized to facilitate research and categorized by vertical industry and type of technology.

"We are very pleased to partner with the Smithsonian Museum and Computerworld in maintaining a permanent record of major innovations in information technology," said Christine Hughes, senior vice president of marketing for Novell, Inc. "Novell products and services play a key role in the global acceleration of information technology innovation and set new standards for global communication over the Internet. We believe The Innovation Network will provide a vehicle so that future generations may better understand the evolution of technology's role in our society."

The Innovation Network will be released in a three-phased roll out. Phase I, launched today, will focus on placing all the core award nominations and Leadership Awards from the 1995 program online as well as placing current and background information on the awards program and related events online. Phase II, scheduled for release on September 1, 1995 will add new information about the Computerworld Smithsonian Awards program online, enhance the information from Phase I by including video, photographs and more complete case study descriptions, and add information about all past Leadership Award winners. Starting January 1, 1996, Phase III will focus on using the Web site as a data repository and as a method for informing and communicating with nominees.

In addition to developing the World Wide Web site, Novell will also create and continually update a "living archive" of technology innovation. Novell will also provide hypertext links between the Innovation Network and the companies represented on the Computerworld Smithsonian Chairmen's Committee, the group that submits candidates for each year's awards. Throughout the three-year project, additional assets from the Smithsonian archives will be added to the Innovation Network.