Press Release

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