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Novell Announces Internet Equity Fund Investments -- Earmarks Capital for NDS Developers Investments Designed to Expand the Internet Standards-Based NetWare Server Platform and Further Novell's Leadership in Network Directory Solutions Provo, Utah -- August 3, 1998 -- Novell, Inc. today announced the placement of approximately $10 million of investment capital by the Novell Internet Equity Fund in exchange for minority equity positions in four network software companies. Novell is investing in companies whose products exploit its Internet standards-based NetWare 5 network server and NDS, Novell's industry- leading network directory service. The investments address important emerging Internet and enterprise software technologies. Novell has invested in Evergreen Internet, Inc., Chandler, Arizona; GlobalCast Communications, Inc., Fremont, California; NetPro Computing, Inc., Scottsdale, Arizona; and NetVision, Inc., Orem, Utah. Additionally, Novell announced that it has earmarked approximately half of the $50 million Fund for investments in companies offering applications, tools and utilities that take advantage NDS. Novell's NDS provides the distributed intelligence necessary for managing and securing business networks and Internet solutions. Novell is fast emerging as the leading provider of IP-based network software that supports business networks in an Internet world. "Earlier this year we announced the creation of the Novell Internet Equity Fund as part of better managing Novell's $1+ billion in cash assets," said Dennis R. Raney, senior vice president and Chief Financial Officer at Novell. "We are targeting investments from the Fund to developers of directory-enabled applications that help extend Novell's market lead in directory solutions that enhance the security, reliability, performance and manageability of networks. Novell is also eager to support new Java-based network applications that exploit the status of Novell's new NetWare 5 server platform as the fastest and best host for deploying Java applications across networks."
Fund Portfolio Companies GlobalCast is a developer of multicast networking software that allows data broadcasts over the Internet to deliver stock quotes, files, video, or other time-urgent information to large numbers of subscribers. GlobalCast MDS Engines are reliable IP-multicast solutions for content providers, satellite operators and enterprise middleware. The company also provides multicast integration services to service providers and public and private network operators. Novell expects the first GlobalCast products for NetWare to be available in the near future. "Novell provides the world's leading directory service and network operating system," stated Eric Dentler, president and CEO, GlobalCast Communications. "Combined with GlobalCast's MDS Engines, Novell's network infrastructure will enable the next generation of scalable, manageable, reliable real-time multicast applications." Evergreen is the premier provider of electronic commerce solutions to some of the most prestigious sites on the Internet. Evergreen has just announced ECential data transaction and publishing software, the most advanced enterprise-wide, 100% Java-based, electronic commerce system on the market today. ECential features a unique, completely flexible, object-based distributed computing architecture, providing customers the scalability to design and build a variety of solutions -- from the simplest storefronts to the most demanding and comprehensive electronic commerce systems. ECential is ready to take advantage of the NetWare 5 high-performance Java application environment. "Because of Novell's investment in Evergreen, Novell customers will have the ability to leverage existing IT infrastructure to support electronic commerce, and take full advantage of leading edge technologies such as directory services, " said Phillip E. Broadbent, President and CEO of Evergreen. "ECential's use of JAVA, JNDI and CORBA, all providing platform independence, will enable Novell customers to easily interface their legacy systems with leading-edge, business-to-consumer and business-to-business electronic commerce systems." NetPro is the leading provider of directory services management solutions. NetPro solutions ensure proactive, continuous monitoring of the vital distributed services at the heart of the network. NetPro's DS Expert is the only solution that proactively monitors and troubleshoots Novell's NDS in real time. "Novell is one of NetPro's most important strategic partners," says Joanne Carthey, NetPro president and CEO. "NetPro understands the vital nature of NDS as a single point of administration and resource access, and we have been working together for years to develop directory management solutions that benefit our mutual customers. This funding agreement further cements that partnership and our mutual commitment to delivering the best management solutions for NDS users." NetVision is a leading provider of directory-services integration solutions. NetVision's Synchronicity product family provides a single point of directory administration by integrating NDS with the Microsoft Windows NT domain directory, Microsoft Exchange directory, Lotus Notes/Domino name and address book and the NetWare 3 bindery used to authenticate users of these servers. "As the number of directories increases for most businesses, we want to leverage the power of NDS and make the directory the core of the business-computing environment," said Todd Lawson, NetVision President. "Using NDS as our back-end object store, we will continue to develop scaleable meta- directory solutions that facilitate a single point of administration for heterogeneous networks."
Novell Internet Equity Fund The Novell Internet Equity Fund promotes Novell's interests in advancing leading-edge, networking technologies through minority investments in development-stage companies that are in their first or second rounds of financing. The Internet Equity Fund is headed by Novell vice president Rob Hicks. Companies interested in the Fund can find more information about it at http://developer.novell.com/fund/.
About Novell 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, as well as the network computing industry's most comprehensive education and technical support programs. Information about Novell and its complete range of products and services can be accessed on the World Wide Web at http://www.novell.com. Novell, NetWare and Novell Directory Services are registered trademarks and NDS is a trademark of Novell, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders.
Press Contacts:
Evergreen
GlobalCast
NetPro
NetVision
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