6 February 2002: Bracknell, UK

• First UK government implementation of Novell Portal Services delivers anywhere, anytime access to council services for local Councillors
• Pilot solution for eGovernment to deliver electronic services to citizens, employees, partners and suppliers by 2005

Novell today announced the first live government implementation of an innovative portal solution to the Vale Royal Borough Council in Cheshire, enabling government employees and Councillors simplified access to a multitude of applications and resources via a secure Internet browser.

The launch of the portal, which was implemented by Novell Business Expert, Associated Network Solutions plc (ANS), marks the first phase in the Council’s eGovernment implementation of Novell’s one Net environment.

Vale Royal Borough Council’s new SmartPortal gives Councillors access to Council information, content and services anytime and anywhere. The Council expects that communication will be enhanced and productivity will be increased by enabling members to respond instantly to situations that arise in the community irrespective of location. Applications currently available through the Vale Royal Council SmartPortal include the Council’s:

• Internal Lotus mail system
• The Council’s Intranet
• Calendaring
• Personal file store
• Local and worldwide news services
• Government Web pages
• Council documents
• Tools and access to change personal details
• Details on committee minutes and upcoming meeting dates
• Access to back office systems via the Internet

"Providing topical, accurate and up-to-date information to elected Members is a fundamental issue for all local authorities," said Steve Downs, head of financial services for Vale Royal Borough Council. “Through our work with Novell and ANS over the last four months, we now have the technology infrastructure in place to give Vale Royal Councillors instant access to information on both local and national issues at the push of a button.”

As you would expect from the head of financial services, Steve Downs was also keen to achieve significant savings from the technology. “The SmartPortal gives us the technical capacity to reduce the paperflow within the Council and ultimately yield efficiency savings from reduced administrative, printing and postage costs,” said Steve Downs.

The Council SmartPortal is an eGovernment pilot project that is expected to be rolled out in several stages beginning with the Councillors. Over the next few years, additional access channels will be unveiled that deliver customised information, content and services to employees, suppliers, partners and ultimately the citizens of Vale Royal.

Councillor Arthur Neil, Vale Royal eChampion, recognises the longer term benefits of the SmartPortal. “By 2005, Vale Royal citizens will have secure access to the Council’s eGovernment SmartPortal via the Internet to view information such as personal council tax account details, make council tax payments, enquire on planning applications, report faults and even book recreational facilities online,” said Arthur Neil.

"Governments in the UK and across the world are turning to Novell to help them open up their networks to the public to deliver services more efficiently," said Steve Brown, regional director, Western Europe, Novell and Cambridge Technology Partners.

"Having worked with over 20 local councils throughout the past year to improve internal communications and help bring government services online, we have proven security and reliability in the implementation of eGovernment portals for the needs of the individual councils and community. As the Whitehall 2005 deadline draws closer, Novell and ANS will continue to develop innovative solutions that enable Vale Royal Borough Council and other local authorities to deliver personalised eGovernment services that are focussed on the citizen."

About the product

Novell® Portal Services provides employees, suppliers, and customers with a browser-based, single point of access to all their network and Web resources. Built on a flexible directory-enabled framework, Novell Portal Services supports open, industry-standards and gives users single-login access at anytime, from any browser-equipped location, including an Internet-enabled wireless telephone or a personal digital assistant (PDA). Novell Portal Services also provides administrators with the tools needed to tailor each portal's content to fit any user's specific organisational role, circumstantial role or an indicated interest role - creating a personalised home page, or "webtop," for everyone within the local authorities remit.

About ANS

ANS is a leading provider of portal solutions to the legal and government market places. They specialise in the Novell and Microsoft Platforms, and place particular emphasis on delivering business benefits from technology. They offer complete solutions covering web based Portal Solutions whilst also leveraging their core skills of Network Management, Groupware, Workflow, Knowledge Management, Document Management and Network Infrastructure.

ANS holds accreditations with leading vendors including Novell, Microsoft, Metastorm*, Cisco*, Citrix and Compaq*. The web integration team provides specialised skills in industry standard technologies such as HTML, JAVA, XML, XSL, LDAP and ASP. For more information on ANS's services please contact our customer help line on 0870 6000 900 or visit the web site at www.ansplc.com

ANS have recently floated on the OFEX market in the UK, raising development capital, financial details can be found at www.ofex.co.uk

About Novell

Novell, Inc. (NASDAQ: NOVL), is a leader in eBusiness solutions and Net services software designed to secure and power the networked world. Novell and its subsidiary, Cambridge Technology Partners, help organisations solve complex business challenges, simplify their systems and processes, and capture new opportunities with one Net solutions. Novell provides world-wide channel, consulting, education and developer programs to support its offerings.

For information on Novell's complete range of products and services, contact Novell's Telephone Response Centre at 01344 724100, or visit Novell's Web site at http://www.novell.com/uk/. Information on eBusiness and e-integration solutions from Cambridge Technology Partners can be accessed at http://www.ctp.com.

Press may access Novell announcements and company information on the World Wide Web at http://www.novell.com/pressroom.

Detailed comparisons between Novell products and competitive offerings from other vendors are available on the Web at http://www.novell.com/competitive. Novell and GroupWise are registered trademarks and eDirectory, iChain, Novell OnDemand Services are trademarks of Novell, Inc. in the USA and other countries. *All third party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

For further information, please contact:
Helen Chung Porter Novelli Convergence Group for Novell UK +44 (0)207 853 2355 helen.chung@pnicge.com