Novell Becomes First Directory Service Provider to Support the RADIUS Internet Standard
for
Network Dial-In Access
RADIUS for Novell Directory Services Simplifies Remote Access Administration and
Creates
Cost-Cutting Outsourcing Opportunity
BRAINSHARE, SALT LAKE CITY, Utah -- March 25, 1997 -- With the
announcement today of RADIUS Services for Novell Directory Services (NDS),
Novell,
Inc. becomes the first network directory services provider to support the emerging IETF Internet
standard
for establishing and managing remote network access connections. The addition of Remote
Authentication
Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) Internet protocol capabilities to NDS simplifies dial-in users'
access to the
Internet and intranets, makes this access easier to manage, and reduces the cost of ownership for
businesses
of all sizes.
RADIUS Services for NDS will run on HP-UX, SCO UnixWare, Sun Microsystems' Solaris,
Microsoft
Windows NT, and Novell's IntranetWare and NetWare® environments. RADIUS
Services
for NDS also supports popular remote access hardware solutions so companies can leverage their
existing
remote networking systems.
Organizations with NDS-enabled networks will use RADIUS Services for NDS to cut the total
cost of
network ownership by unifying user administration and new opportunities to outsource dial-in
connectivity
hardware. The open beta version of RADIUS Services for NDS is currently available, and can be
downloaded free of charge from the World Wide Web at www.novell.com/nds; the first customer shipment is
scheduled for
release in mid-1997.
Delivery of RADIUS Services for NDS reinforces Novell's continued commitment to integrate
Internet
standards with business networks and to establish NDS as the Lightweight Directory Access
Protocol
(LDAP) directory of choice. Support for RADIUS also extends the benefits of NDS management
to
administering remote user access through remote access servers. Companies can now manage
and
administer physical connectivity to networks and user access rights simultaneously with NDS.
"As business demands more and more mobility and access, the RADIUS standard is becoming a
necessity
to provide a common way to control remote users' access to networks," said Tom Arthur, vice
president
and general manager of Novell's Internet Infrastructure Division. "RADIUS Services for NDS
unifies dial-
in user and hardware administration under the world's most popular directory service to help
customers cut
their total network ownership costs. With support for LDAP and RADIUS, NDS is now the most
open,
Internet standards-compliant directory on the market. And, with more than 20 million NDS users
worldwide, Novell is clearly the market leading supplier of network directories."
RADIUS Services for NDS adheres to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) specifications
for
remote authentication of dial-in users. Novell's complete implementation of IETF RFC2058
unifies network
security, authentication and authorization through a single network directory. This adherence to
standards
ensures Novell's RADIUS implementation will interoperate with companies' existing
RADIUS-compliant
remote network access solutions from vendors including 3COM, Ascend, Bay Networks, Cisco,
Shiva, US
Robotics and many more.
Faster, Easier Remote Connections
RADIUS Services for NDS allows users to quickly access all assigned resources network-wide
through a
single user account in NDS. RADIUS support simplifies how a dial-in user's name and password
are
verified before granting network access to servers, information and software applications.
"Before RADIUS Services for NDS, my plans required two full-time resources to manually
administer,
through Unix text files and scripting, the 20,000 users who will require remote access to our
network," said
Sandro Silvestri, director of Administrative Data and Voice Communications, Henry Ford
Community
College. "This product leverages our current NDS and NetWare knowledge base, reduces
in-service and
training requirements across our entire organization, eliminates the need to significantly expand
our
technical infrastructure, and reduces my internal resource requirements."
Easily Manage Remote User Access
According to Gartner Group, organizations incur a significant percentage of their total network
ownership
costs in network support, including staffing and training employees. RADIUS Support for NDS
helps cut
those network administration costs by unifying remote user and access management under NDS.
Network
administrators and Internet service providers (ISPs) can add dial-in user information to NDS,
rather than
setting up and maintaining multiple databases. By extending NDS to support remote users and
servers,
including access servers, NDS provides a single point of network administration.
In addition, RADIUS Services for NDS proxy capabilities allow companies to outsource costly
remote
access hardware and its administration through ISPs, while enabling corporations to retain
management of
their users. By implementing an outsourced remote access system, organizations further cut total
network
ownership costs by eliminating the need to purchase, maintain and upgrade expensive
connectivity
hardware. They also benefit from larger, more well equipped access systems offered by ISPs.
Companies who deploy the software also gain the flexibility provided by multiple access servers.
RADIUS
Services for NDS allows for the configuration of a primary RADIUS server and additional
back-up
RADIUS servers to ensure remote access services continue even if a portion of a network fails.
Because of
NDS' distributed design, if a connection between any of the servers goes down, RADIUS
Services for NDS
will continue to operate until the connection is restored, thus providing users and companies with
the
assurance that remote network access is continuously available.
The Directory-enabled Network
- NDS is based on open standards, and was designed to support X.500 naming; NDS now
fully
supports the LDAP V.2 and RADIUS IETF Internet standards, running on HP-UX, SCO
UnixWare, Sun
Solaris, Windows NT, NetWare and IntranetWare.
- NDS provides a single point of access to all network resources from server operating
systems to
physical-network-infrastructure components, networked services, applications and the Internet.
With
RADIUS Services for NDS, NDS is able to provide remote user access administration.
- NDS enables global access to network resources by presenting complex networks as a single
information system, making network resources easier to locate and access.
- NDS users have a single network account that enables them to access all network resources,
rather
than having separate accounts for each individual file server and network application.
- NDS provides sophisticated, yet easily managed administration to reduce the time and cost
of
managing a network.
- NDS security features provide for different levels of user access and authentication
privileges, and
allows worry-free information and resource sharing.
- NDS gives ISVs a network directory and security infrastructure, cutting the time required to
create
and release directory-enabled applications.
Product Availability
RADIUS Services for NDS is currently available in open beta as an add-on directory service for
NDS, and
runs on IntranetWare as well as NetWare 4.1. It will become generally available around
mid-1997, free of
charge.
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 IntranetWare, Novell Directory Services and
NDS are
trademarks of Novell, Inc. All other registered trademarks and trademarks are the property of
their
respective holders.
Press Contacts:
Pattie Adams
Novell, Inc.
Phone: (408) 577-6056
Internet: padams@novell.com
Lori Hafen
Cunningham Communication, Inc.
Phone: (415) 858-3787
Internet: lori@ccipr.com
Back to BrainShare
|