_Novell To Leverage NDS For Desktop Management_____
Novell this week will unveil software that leverages its directory to
simplify the management of Windows-based desktops.
Zero Efforts Networks, or Z.E.N.works, combines the functions of two
existing products -- Novell Application Launcher and Workstation
Manager -- as well as several enhancements. The product uses Novell
Directory Services as a repository of information about applications
and desktops to centralize and streamline processes. Those
processes include software distribution, application management
and maintenance, allocation of printer and file-system rights,
policy-based desktop management, and desktop configuration and re-
creation of customized desktops for users who travel.
Z.E.N.works has a "tremendous breadth of functionality," says beta
tester Scott Webster, a senior network analyst at Canadian
Occidental Petroleum Ltd. in Calgary, Alberta. "It allows us to
consolidate so much of the systems-management process in the
directory. You've got a single point of management and a single
repository for all the information about our network users -- about
2,000 people in about
15 different countries."
Z.E.N.works supports Windows 3.1, 3.11, Windows 95, and Windows
NT desktops. It will be sold separately, starting in the second
quarter, and will also become a component of Novell's ManageWise
network-management software. Pricing hasn't been determined. --
Monua Janah
(For more IT news, see InformationWeek Online at
informationweek.com.)
************************************ |
