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Executive Demonstrates Early Version of NDS on Windows NT Novell to Fortify Network Infrastructure To Enable Full-Service Intranets Executives Also Demonstrate Internet Capabilities Using Currently Available Network Services OREM, Utah -- July 22, 1996 -- Building on a series of announcements made since BrainShare in March, Novell, Inc. released additional information about its intranet plans last week in Colorado Springs, Colorado during The Burton Group's Prognosys conference. In a conference session on "The Future of the Network Operating System (NOS)," Steve Markman, executive vice president and general manager of Novell's Products Group, described how the NOS is evolving into the intranet. Markman outlined Novell's plans to develop NetWare® 4, the industry's leading NOS, as the intranet platform of choice; discussed the development of networking services that operate not only with NetWare but also across all server environments; and explored the strategic role of Java in NetWare. To support his comments, Markman demonstrated an early version of Novell Directory Services™ (NDS™) running natively on Windows NT Server. NDS on NT is slated for release in the first half of 1997. During the session, Markman also showed how users of current Internet browser software can leverage NetWare Web Server software to access NDS across Internet and intranet connections. Network operating systems such as NetWare 4 are incorporating Internet standards to ease user access to network information, enabling corporate networks to provide the infrastructure to support intranets. As the corporate network market share leader with industry-leading network services technology, NetWare is well-positioned to act as the infrastructure for organizations' intranets. NetWare provides a proven network infrastructure that already delivers many of the services required to expand networks into intranets, including directory, file, print and security. Novell plans to create even more effective intranets by building additional key capabilities, including licensing and enhanced security, directly into the network infrastructure to optimize it as an intranet platform. As these services become integral components of intranets, users are requiring these key services to be deployed across multiple platforms to accommodate a wide variety of user needs and to augment support for industry standards. Novell joined with IBM, Netscape and Microsoft in vendor panel sessions on the transition of the NOS from a client/server model to a client/network model that distributes all information and resources network-wide. Markman identified seven services essential to the new paradigm of client/network computing: file, print, security, directory, management, messaging and Web services. These services, the foundation of Novell's client/network vision, are already available for NetWare 4.1. During conference sessions, Novell reiterated its plan to port key services to popular networking platforms including Windows NT and UNIX, noting the company's services are currently available on The Santa Cruz Operation's UNIX platform, and will be incorporated with the Hewlett-Packard HP-UX UNIX platform in the near future. Interested partners can also license the services for use on their platforms through Novell's recently-released Novell Cross-Platform Services. In addition to discussing distributed services and NetWare's role as an intranet platform, Markman emphasized Novell's use of Java as a key application development environment for the new generation of client/network applications. Novell is porting the Java environment to NetWare to enable any Java-based application to run on users' existing NetWare servers and clients. Java takes advantage of NetWare's low overhead to run applications with better speed and more flexibility than other platforms to ensure customers yield a higher return on their network assets. "In a client/network world there are multiple operating systems and services, each optimized for specific functions," said Markman. "Our intranet plans position NetWare as the best networking foundation for distributed services and Java-based applications, making it an extremely strong intranet platform. We also understand that customers need to choose the network solution that is right for them, so we've made key NetWare services available on leading server platforms, allowing users to run our distributed network services on the platform of their choice." Markman's speech rounded out three days of well-received Novell participation at Prognosys. "The customer's need for global connectivity is driving the acceptance of the intranet, shifting the focus from the NOS as we have known it to a set of interoperable network services." said Jamie Lewis, president of The Burton Group. "The strategy Novell outlined at the conference is clearly in line with that trend and our Network Services Model, which describes the services necessary for interoperable networks. Novell's demonstration of NDS on NT Server underscores the company's commitment to cross-platform services, and that's good news for customers." On the first day of the conference, Vic Langford, senior vice president and general manager of the Internet/Intranet Services Business Unit, outlined plans to make NDS the core of business processes in the information age by incorporating open Internet standards, such as Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) and others, into NDS. Support for these standards will effectively open the industry's leading directory to all users and development partners, enabling NDS to synchronize with other standards-compliant directories to give users a simple universal interface to network applications and services. Adding more capabilities at the services level has become critical for users to create networks optimized for their organizations, and NDS support of these standards will allow users to incorporate the contents of other standards-based directories directly and securely into their NDS environments. Day two of the conference focused on security as it relates to intranets and distributed computing. Dr. Roger Schell, senior development manager for Novell's security group, identified the need for greater security standards on the Internet and highlighted Novell's commitment to offering secure solutions such as packet signature; RSA public/private key with secure RPC and GQ backward authentication; and C2/E2 trusted network interpretation (TNI) Red Book certification to meet government security requirements. Schell also reviewed other projects in progress to support X.509, LDAP and SSL v. 3 standards. Founded in 1983, Novell (NASDAQ: NOVL) is the world's leading provider of network software. The company offers a wide range of network solutions for distributed network, Internet, intranet and small-business markets. Novell education and technical support programs are the most comprehensive in the network computing industry. Information about Novell's complete range of products and services can be accessed on the World Wide Web at http://www.novell.com. Novell and NetWare are registered trademarks and Novell Directory Services and NDS are trademarks of Novell, Inc. All other registered trademarks and trademarks are the property of their respective holders.
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Danielle Epstein |
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