Novell and Partners Announce First NEST Product Plans

Canon, Cheyenne, Ricoh and Over 35 Vendors to Integrate NetWare into Next Generation Office Equipment

NEW YORK, NY-June 20, 1995 (PC Expo)--Novell today announced plans by Canon, Cheyenne, and Ricoh to implement Novell Embedded Systems Technology (NEST) in a new generation of intelligent office equipment that can be accessed and controlled over networks. These leading hardware and software vendors join a total of over 35 OEMs who have signed agreements with Novell to integrate NEST in their products.

Building upon Novell's vision of pervasive computing, NEST expands the conception of the networked office to include fax machines, digital copiers, scanners, printers, PBX and storage devices. By embedding the NetWare client into each of these devices, NEST allows each device to become a node on a NetWare network. As a NetWare network node, each device (and the information it processes) can be accessed and controlled both locally and remotely. NEST is also platform and processor independent, allowing developers to take any processor-enabled office product and make it an "intelligent" device on the network.

"It is time to stop considering the fax machine or the copier as a stand-alone device," said Tom Jones, director of marketing for Novell's Extended Networks Division. "Most machines in an office environment offer services that could be better utilized if made part of the larger network. NEST facilitates the integration of the entire office environment into one networked workgroup."

Novell Partners With Leading Office Product Vendors

Ricoh will implement the NEST Autoroute software within its popular line of fax machines, enabling users to access and distribute fax information over the network. Ricoh facsimile with autoroute will enable the user to encode the message to be faxed into digital copy for routing to multiple destinations. The coding process will organize the fax so it can be routed to the correct destination, whether it be a printer, digital copier or e-mail box. Selecting these destinations for the user will be as easy as keying in a code on their fax machine. "Ricoh wants the fax machine to be seen as a way to send information in the most efficient way possible," said Kawajiri Yoshio, vice president of Fax R&D for Ricoh Corporation."Autoroute allows Ricoh to enable a user to deliver a fax not only to another fax machine, but also to a remote desktop or e-mail mail box."

Canon is embedding NEST into its GP-55F and other GP series products. The GP-55F is a high end machine combining the functionality of printing, digital copying, scanning, filing and faxing. "Productivity is driven by companies who provide users with efficient options, and we believe NEST will allow the user of Canon products to better do the jobs they perform day in and day out," said Ryoichi Bamba, vice president and general manager of Office Equipment Marketing, Canon USA. "The GP-55F enables a multitude of services to exist in one machine. NEST will get that machine all the information it needs to get tasks accomplished." The GP-55F, which supports both Token Ring and Ethernet, has been tested and approved" by Novell Labs to ensure operability within the NetWare environment.

One of the world's leaders in fax software, Cheyenne is embedding NEST into the software they provide to a variety of hardware manufacturers so users can exercise the delivery option that is most efficient for them. Cheyenne will provide the ability for fax servers to receive encoded information and route that material along the network. Using NetWare Directory Services (NDS), intelligent devices such as copiers, printers, and of course desktop computers, will have addresses to which information can be routed. "Cheyenne wants to help unlock the power of fax servers to not only receive information, but also distribute that information in an intelligent way across the networked enterprise," said Yuda Doron, CEO and president of Cheyenne Communications, Inc. "Cheyenne is in the business of helping people distribute and share information in the most effective way possible. NEST allows us to bring greater efficiency through new options of distribution."

Additional Novell partners in the emerging networked office marketplace include Castelle, Digital Products, Securicore Telecom Limited, Future Systems Inc., QMS, Intel, I-Data International, Pacific Data Products, Sercomm, Colorbus, Mita, Emulex, Hewlett-Packard, Axis Computers, Xerox, Fujitsu, Lexmark, Kofax, Epson and Tektronix.

Novell Technology Drives The Emerging Networked Office

With remote computing (such as telecommuting from a home office) becoming more popular, the office landscape of today is quickly heading toward decentralization. Novell understands that networking will provide the dynamic communications necessary to serve as the backbone of new virtual and dynamic workgroups. These groups require that all information devices, applications, and services be as accessible and interconnected as the telephone is today. NEST delivers these advanced services by providing a network connection, and by extending worker productivity through a collection of value added resources.

Novell recognizes that while desktop and host resources are moving to the network, so too must diverse data streams consolidate on that same network. NEST offers this consolidation by allowing office equipment vendors to make workplace products more intelligent by integrating them with enhanced NetWare services. NEST delivers NetWare Directory Services (NDS), NetWare Distributed Print Services (NDPS), NEST Autoroute, Telephony, AT&T NetWare Connect Services (ANCS) and GroupWise network messaging system to any intelligent device.

For example, NDS provides the white and yellow pages for advertising and locating all the users, resources and services on a given network. NDS is the cornerstone and de facto standard for providing easy methods for sharing information, applications and devices within the networked office environment. NEST enables office devices to be listed within NDS, so users can identify destinations from their client computers. Users will then be able to route documents directly to the fax machine for distribution or to the copier for mass duplication, all without leaving the friendly confines of their desktop workstations.

Novell Embedded Systems Technology (NEST)

NEST is an instrumental part of Novell's mission to make computer networks available to a billion users by the year 2000. NEST, because it includes the client component of NetWare, brings NetWare's security, directory services, routing and management capabilities to all intelligent devices. NEST is a small, modular and operating system independent architecture that allows everything from home electronics to automobiles to communicate over computer networks. NEST will enable users to take advantage of advanced Novell technologies like NetWare Directory Services (NDS) -- whether they are connecting from a home PC, a personal digital assistant (PDA), their car or their television set.

Novell

The business of Novell is connecting people with other people and the information they need, enabling them to act on it anytime, anyplace. Novell is the world's leading network software provider. The company's products provide the distributed infrastructure, network services, advanced network access and network applications required to make networked information and pervasive computing an integral part of everyone's daily life.

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Novell and NetWare are registered trademarks and Novell Embedded Systems Technology, NEST, NetWare Directory Services, NDS, NetWare Distributed Print Services, NDPS, GroupWise, AT&T NetWare Connect Services, and ANCS are trademarks of Novell, Inc. All other trademarks belong to their respective organizations.