Novell beds down in a more realistic NEST
By Lisa Wirthman
Embedded Operating Systems
Novell Inc. will unveil at NetWorld+Interop next week a revised road map for its NEST embedded NetWare technology that focuses on office environments.
The strategy represents a more realistic game plan for the NetWare Embedded Systems Technology, which Novell has been touting for the past year as a cornerstone of its vision for "global networking," including the consumer marketplace.
By the end of this year, about 30 manufacturers in the office arena will be shipping NEST-enabled products, and NEST will be installed in about 1 million units, said John Harris, director of business development for NEST at Novell, in Provo, Utah.
Also by year's end, NEST will offer enhanced auto-routing technology that enables users to route documents to other people, said Harris. Users will be able to relay instructions to machines that receive routed documents, such as telling a copier to staple and collate a document.
By mid-1997, NEST products will be embedded with Novell Distributed Printing Services, he said. The advanced printing technology, developed first for NetWare, enables print redirection, so that a printer can send a document to another printer if it is busy or communicate to a user when toner or paper is low.
Other improvements include support this year for new devices such as digital copiers and multifunction scanners and for PBX phone switches in 1997.
Outside the office product arena, Novell will make NEST announcements in the energy sector later this year regarding its Powerline technology, Harris added. The ability to connect networks via a utility company's power lines is the NEST technology that holds the most interest for one user.
"If we didn't have to run network cabling to all our manufacturing devices, it would be a big help," said Paul Scholes, LAN systems manager for Farmland Foods Inc., in Kansas City, Mo. "We could save a lot of money on the cost of cable maintenance and installation."
Novell can be reached at (800) 638-9273 or at novell.com. |
