Novell Wins the Network Directory "Fight of the Century" Versus
Microsoft at Networld+Interop
OREM, Utah -- September 23, 1996 -- Novell, Inc. today
announced its industry-leading Novell® Directory Services
(NDS) won the network directory challenge versus Microsoft's
Windows NTDS, held at Networld+Interop in Atlanta on Wednesday,
September 18. Novell had challenged Microsoft to compare the Windows
NTDS against NDS to address Microsoft claims that the Windows NT
domain name service provides the same fast and efficient network
management capabilities as Novell Directory Services.
The Novell marketing event followed the format of a professional boxing
match, pitting a team of computer network professionals using Novell
NDS and a team using NTDS against each other to complete common
business tasks in a series of "rounds." Ring announcer Michael "Let's
Get Ready to Rumble" Buffer acted as master of ceremonies for the
battle, while boxing legend "Sugar" Ray Leonard, ESPN boxing
commentator Al Bernstein and a networking expert explained the action
in the ring for a standing-room-only crowd at the Georgia World
Congress Center.
"The network directory challenge event underscores our renewed
emphasis on marketing to differentiate our network product offerings and
highlight the customer benefits of Novell networking solutions," said Joe
Marengi, president of Novell.
A panel of four independent judges, made up of the president and chief
executive officer for a Novell Platinum Reseller and Microsoft Solution
Provider; two representatives from Novell authorized resellers and
Microsoft Solution Providers; and a Microsoft Certified Professional
programmer declared Novell the directory services challenge winner by
unanimous decision after the company's NDS network management
solutions swept four of the five rounds.
During each round of the NDS versus NTDS comparison, representatives
from each team were asked to implement network changes to address a
common business request. The Novell and Microsoft teams addressed
the following network scenarios in the five-round match:
- Consolidate network resources into a single network after the
merger of two companies in different locations (Novell won);
- Give the company president immediate access privileges to a printing
resource somewhere on the network (Microsoft won);
- Grant network administrative rights to departmental network
managers, without giving them administrative privileges for the entire
network (Novell won);
- Create a World Wide Web-accessible directory of several hundred
network users, including each person's job title and phone number
(Novell won); and
- Deploy two desktop applications (Microsoft Excel and Microsoft
Word) to several hundred users, and distribute a specialized application
only to the company president, ensuring that no other employees can
access that application (Novell won).
The first team to implement a solution using the fewest actions,
keystrokes, mouse clicks and commands won the round. With NDS and
NetWare Administrator (NWAdmin) NDS management tool, the
Novell team easily captured four of the five rounds to declare victory.
Novell representatives invited Microsoft to participate in the event
through a letter to Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates as well as full-page
advertisements in PC Week, USA Today and The Wall
Street Journal. The challenge went unanswered and Microsoft failed
to assemble a team to compete in the directory "fight of the century."
Microsoft was represented instead by a member of the audience who
works at a Microsoft Solutions Provider and a Novell representative with
extensive Windows NT Server experience.
Novell Directory Services
Novell Directory Services provide a universal directory service for
organizations' corporate networks, business intranets and the Internet.
NDS today is the only directory with a fully distributed architecture to
enable scaling from small to global intranets, and allows network
administrators to customize and reconfigure the directory without
bringing down the network. NDS is an integral component of Novell
network platform solutions, including NetWare® 4.1 and the
soon-to-be-released IntranetWare, helping users to quickly locate
and access network resources and users.
In addition to integrated support in GroupWise 5, InnerWeb
Publisher, ManageWise and the NetWare Web
Server, more than 200 third-party applications leverage NDS
today, including products from Cheyenne Software, Motorola and Oracle
Corporation. Novell also enables original equipment manufacturers
(OEMs), including Hewlett-Packard and The Santa Cruz Operation, to
expand and enhance their own operating system products by integrating
Novell's industry-standard file, print and directory services through
Novell Cross Platform Services (NCPS).
The world's largest telecommunications companies, including AT&T and
Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT), rely on NDS as the
global directory service for their Internet and intranet services, offered
through NetWare Connect Services (NCS).
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 GroupWise,
InnerWeb Publisher, ManageWise, NetWare Administrator, NWAdmin,
NetWare Connect Services, NetWare Web Server, Novell Directory
Services and NDS are trademarks of Novell, Inc. All other registered
trademarks and trademarks are the property of their respective holders.
Press Contact:
Pattie Adams
Novell, Inc.
(408) 577-6056
Internet: padams@novell.com
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