Press Release

Novell announces Industry's First Replication Software with Novell Replication Services™ NICE, France -- May 12, 1997 -- Novell® Inc., announced today the release of Novell Replication Services™ (NRS) to be available via the World Wide Web later this month. NRS is the first replication tool to allow the replication of files, applications, web servers as well as the distribution and synchronisation network-wide. This makes Novell the first company to bring this break-through product to the market place.

Novell Replication Services is a powerful new network management tool that will allow network administrators to manage replicated files located in multiple geographic locations in the same Novell Directory Services™ (NDS) tree.

NRS will allow system administrators to improve consistency and data availability across Wide Area Networks (WANs) and Intranet web servers and so provide immediate access to the most up-to-date network information, such as Windows and HTML documents, software updates, graphic images, and audio and video clips. A scheduling facility allows synchronisation to be scheduled for times to most suit the system, such as periods of anticipated low network traffic or server utilisation.

The product consists of a single NetWare Loadable Module™ (NLM) file that runs on each server from which, or to which, files and directories are replicated. Administration is provided by a simple "snap-in" to Novell's standard administration utility so the process can be managed by any networked organisation. Benefits of Novell Replication Services include:

  • increased access to information across the WAN; information is replicated at multiple locations to give WAN access at faster LAN speeds
  • real-time consistency across multiple servers; the tool can detect changes and will automatically replicate these changes to ensure synchronised data images at each designated server
  • reduced costs; automating the replication process can make more efficient use of staff; the scheduling facility can smooth out WAN traffic, and the replication facility can move information closer to the end user so reducing the need to constantly access the WAN and postpone purchases of expensive additional WAN capacity
David James, Technical Architect at British Telecom (BT) commented on the product: "At BT, we are planning to install Novell Replication Services across 100 of our servers that service over 12,500 clients. We have had problems with mismatched software applications across our network and this has created a need to ensure the accurate replication and distribution of files. We are confident that Novell Replication Services will help us solve this problem; our trials have shown that it will ensure exact replication and distribution automatically."

To access a free fully supported and functional version of the Novell Replication Services, please access Novell's site on the World Wide Web at http://www.novell.com/nrs/. Multilingual versions of the product will be released in the next few months.

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 programmes 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 of Novell, Inc., Novell Directory Services, NetWare Loadable Module and Novell Replication Services are trademarks of Novell, Inc.

Novell Contact:
Sandrine Leroux
Novell EMEA
Tel: (01344) 724071
Fax: (01344) 724276
Internet: sandrine_leroux@novell.com

For more information regarding the beta version of Novell Replication Services, please contact paul_abbott@novell.com