Here is the release fm Oct 20 on NVDM's internet new s/w
Novadigm Announces Internet Breakthrough That Automatically
Personalizes Software For Each User and Device On The 'Net
PR Newswire, Monday, October 20, 1997 at 09:19
Radia(TM), Industry's First Active Component Manager, Overcomes Limitations
Of 'One-Size-Fits-All' Push Solutions for Internet Software Distribution
MAHWAH, N.J., Oct. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Novadigm, Inc. (NASDAQ:NVDM) today
announced Radia(TM), the industry's first Active Component Manager for the
Internet. Radia takes a radically new approach to managing software, content
and applications over the Internet and corporate intranets. It automatically
adapts software to meet the "personalized" needs of each user connected to the
Internet from PCs and laptops to the new breed of network "appliances" such as
personal digital assistants, network computers and other kinds of devices.
Radia's Active Component Manager provides an automated management platform
that goes far beyond "push" technologies in reducing the costs of maintaining
existing software while enabling the rapid deployment of new software-enabled
products and services for competitive advantage. By distributing intelligent,
scalable management agents across the network, Radia enables a suite of
management solutions targeted at the needs of a wide variety of users:
* Radia Software Manager allows IT managers and Internet Service
Providers to distribute software packages that are "self-maintaining";
* Radia Application Manager enables developers to dynamically update
component-based applications at runtime;
* Radia Delivery Manager provides software vendors with a flexible
solution for delivering updated software either directly to users'
desktops or to an IT-controlled intranet server for distribution; and
* Radia Content Manager enables content providers to manage documents of
virtually any form.
The Radia product family is based on Novadigm's patented technology which
has been proven to reduce management overhead by more than 80% in large-scale
commercial deployments across tens of thousands of desktops in Fortune 1000
companies worldwide such as BankBoston, Kaiser Permanente, and MetLife.
Radia's chief advantage is its ability to automatically provide the exact
level of software, applications or content that users need. Radia does this
by breaking these systems into active components that are automatically
managed in real-time, based on: what the user wants and needs; the actual
component versions already installed; the requirements and/or limitations of
each user's desktop, laptop or network device; and the current access policies
of each provider. By contrast, push-based products take a "one-size-fits-all"
approach to management that does not recognize that certain types of content
only require updating and not replacing, nor that users have specific needs
and system requirements that affect what type and what specific component of
software they should receive.
"Managing revisions to software and content in the Internet free-for-all
requires a new breed of highly adaptive management solutions that can handle
simultaneous change from all directions," said Albion Fitzgerald, founder and
CEO of Novadigm. "Radia's Active Component Manager provides an unparalleled
value proposition for companies grappling with software management in the
maelstrom of the Internet or corporate intranets. Without an adaptive
management solution such as Radia, there is no way to ensure that the right
software required for each unique system or network device is always available
to meet the precise needs of each user."
Radia Tames the 'Net Free-For-All
Radia's automated component-based approach to management offers
significant benefits to organizations seeking to exploit the potential of the
Internet and corporate intranets for software distribution and maintenance.
Radia ensures that each individual's unique software and content requirements
are not only met, but are kept up to date with zero-administration. Radia
also conserves network bandwidth -- a resource especially scarce on the
Internet -- by updating only the components that need to be changed for each
individual user.
Radia's component-based approach brings a level of automation,
adaptability and scalability far beyond what is possible with push
technologies, now regarded by many analysts as fundamentally unsuited for
solving the much larger and more complex problems posed by software and
applications management. Push solutions -- with their uni-directional channel
and tuner television broadcasting metaphor -- break down when applied to
Internet software and content management. Push solutions cannot accommodate
the different requirements of each user and system or determine which versions
of content and software a user has already received. In other words, what's
really required is a different "TV program" for each person's unique
television set and viewing habits, that simultaneously takes into account how
much of the program has already been watched and then delivers only the
portion that hasn't been seen.
The actual impact of this mismatch between the one-size-fits-all push
model versus the real-world need for "personalized" software is felt by
network managers and system administrators burdened with the impossible task
of preparing individual packages to suit the unique needs of individual users
and systems. Compounding the problem is the rapid pace of changing local
system environments and external management policies which can immediately
outdate the software being "pushed" out to users. As a result, user
productivity suffers and calls to already-overwhelmed corporate help desks
escalate out of control.
The Radia Edge: Adaptive Configuration, Fractional Differencing and
Flexible, Scalable Architecture
The key to Radia's ability to automatically manage a diverse palette of
software, content and application components on a "personalized" user-by-user
basis is its patented adaptive configuration and "fractional differencing"
technology. Radia's Active Component Manager assesses the configuration and
precise component version on each individual desktop, determining the actual
state of the target system at any point in time. It then compares this actual
state to a dynamically-generated configuration model that represents each
target system's ideal, or desired state, taking into account configuration
requirements, component changes and policy issues such as access control, user
subscription entitlements and license constraints.
This automatic comparison process is implemented on a highly granular,
component level, enabling Radia to detect even the smallest changes in the
status of the target system, whether caused by new or updated content from a
publisher, other hardware or software changes within the target system itself,
or a parameter that was inadvertently altered. By only sending updates to the
specific components required to restore the target system to its optimal
state, IT organizations can conserve network bandwidth and minimize user
delays, both significant issues in the "thin pipe" world of the Internet.
Radia distributes its unprecedented management intelligence across a
highly scalable, flexible architecture that centers around configurations of
automatically synchronized management servers, various publishing environments
and subscriber systems. The management servers collect and store the content
and configuration data required to build the desired-state model which
controls subscriber access to services and enables the applications to adapt
to changes in the managed environment. A lightweight client (less than 500KB)
that interfaces directly with the management server, enables automated
facilities that allow users to download and install new software or content
and update components when changes occur. An automated wizard-driven package
provides an interface to publisher development environments, enabling content
and application developers to easily define and deploy new components.
The Radia Product Line
The Radia product line manages the full spectrum of software including
packaged applications and browsers, the new breed of component-based
applications, and revisable content. The product line includes:
* Radia Software Manager
Enables intranet, extranet and Internet service providers to dramatically
lower the cost of distributing, maintaining and repairing shrink-wrapped
applications by providing a comprehensive "self-maintaining" management server
that allows subscribers to easily manage their own applications while
retaining all the benefits of centralized control. The product supports:
custom presentation of service and available software based on subscribers'
current access policy; automatic download and installation of software based
on the current configuration of the desktop and policy for entitlement; and
automatic verification, update and repair of components each time the user
accesses the management server.
* Radia Application Manager
Enables application developers to move to complex, component-based
applications which are created at execution time by embedding a "just-in-time"
configuration facility that allows components to be dynamically updated at
runtime without administrative, developer or user intervention. This "set and
forget" process supports any combination of Java, Active X and "native"
desktop components or related data files for both client/server systems and
Web-based applications, and ensures that business-critical applications are
always executed with the right components.
* Radia Delivery Manager
Offers software vendors and e-commerce providers with a choice in enabling an
Internet-based delivery solution for their customers; a direct-to-desktop
process that automatically installs the latest versions of software on users'
systems, or an intranet-enabled solution that gives corporate customers an
intermediate control point. These solutions provide the ability for vendors
to deliver frequent, customized subscriber updates that provide a competitive
advantage or improve customer service without increasing administrative
support costs.
* Radia Content Manager
Enables content providers to quickly publish, manage and control documents
across the Web. Unlike complex, high-end document management systems which
are expensive and time consuming to implement, the Radia Content Manager is
flexible enough to manage documents of virtually any form-materials related to
business transactions, generalized reference information, or research reports
and news feeds that are sold on a subscription basis.
Pricing and Availability
The first application of the Radia product line, the Radia Software
Manager, will be available in December, 1997. The initial release supports a
Windows NT server and Windows clients with Netscape or Internet Explorer
browsers. Initial license fees for the Radia Software Manager will start at
$15,000 for a server that supports 100 subscribers, with additional
subscribers available for $50 per user. Support for UNIX and Macintosh will
be available in early 1998. Availability of additional Radia management
applications will be announced in the near future. |
