Saturday morning research: for the shorts out there
Compaq anoints Novell NDS as high-end directory
By Dana Gardner
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 10:51 AM PT, Sep 7, 1999
Compaq on Tuesday tapped Novell Directory Services (NDS) as its high-end directory server of choice in an alliance
between the two companies that also has Novell working to bring its first 64-bit port of NDS to Compaq's Tru64 Unix
on AlphaServer platforms.
Compaq said it chose NDS for its present and future NonStop-branded network backbone offerings due to NDS's
high scalability and cross-platform attributes. When NDS for Tru64 Unix arrives by June 2000, it will be targeted at the
largest telecommunications companies, Internet service providers, and global enterprises, according to officials from the
companies.
As part of the deal, the financial terms of which were not disclosed, Compaq will optimize its ProLiant servers for NDS
on Novell NetWare, Microsoft NT, and Linux. Furthermore, Compaq's upcoming AXL200 Accelerator PCI card will
allow users to enhance the capabilities of NDS-supported security.
Compaq will also support the new Active Directory offering from Microsoft on Compaq's Windows 2000-loaded
servers, due in early 2000. Company officials characterized the two directories as "complementary," with NDS forming
a meta-directory function over Active Directory in cross-platform environments.
"We expect that Windows 2000 will be for Windows-centric customers but that NDS will be for cross-platform use,"
said Mary McDowell, general manager of the industry-standard server division at Compaq, in Houston.
Indeed, in striking a deal with Compaq, Novell has borne fruit from work over many months to increasingly bundle
NDS and tighten product alliances with platform and application server makers.
Among those now competing for high-end directory services with Compaq and Novell are Sun with its iPlanet
Directory Server (formerly named Netscape Directory Server), and IBM and HP offerings, as well as Microsoft's
Windows 2000-based services.
According to Novell and Compaq, users of NDS on ProLiant servers will -- regardless of platform -- obtain a "holistic
view of their network assets and users." The directory is also a keen platform for managing and leveraging such
burgeoning technologies as Extensible Markup Language (XML), said Chris Stone, senior vice president for strategy
and corporate development at Novell, in Provo, Utah.
"We're finding new ways to use our directory, and we're finding a requirement that directories be cross-platform for a
secure environment that can scale to a billion objects," said Stone, adding that NDS runs on Windows NT, NetWare,
Solaris, OS/390, and Linux, among others.
"By focusing first on directory-enabled management of clients and servers and then on e-business initiatives that extend
networks to the Internet, Compaq and Novell can leverage their respective product lines and services," said Jamie
Lewis, president of The Burton Group consultancy, in a statement.
"This is a key deliverable for us," said Enrico Pesatori, group general manager for enterprise solutions and services at
Compaq. "It's more than high availability, customers can grow at Internet speed without breaking their bank or IT
department. It's a real step forward to help companies join the Internet economy."
Compaq Computer Corp., in Houston is at www.compaq.com. Novell Inc. in Provo, Utah is at www.novell.com.
InfoWorld Editor at Large Dana Gardner is based in New Hampshire.
infoworld.com
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Novell's Schmidt hawks value of NDS
By Juan Carlos P‚rez
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 11:53 AM PT, Oct 11, 1999
ORLANDO, Fla. -- The interoperability that currently exists between Novell's Novell Directory Services (NDS) and
Microsoft's Windows NT domain architecture will carry over to be available for Windows 2000 when that operating
system ships, Eric Schmidt, Novell's chairman and chief executive officer, said Monday.
"Our directory [NDS] will cross-populate with [Windows 2000's] Active Directory and vice-versa. That's good for
them, good for us, and good for customers," Schmidt said, speaking on a panel with two Gartner Group analysts at
Gartner's ITxpo '99 here.
Although the mechanics of how the two directories will synchronize will vary from Windows NT 4.0 to Windows 2000,
"from the customer perspective, the functionality is the same," Schmidt said, adding that this functionality is already
present in the latest beta version of Windows 2000.
Schmidt also said that Novell plans to introduce a new product line that integrates public-key infrastructure technology,
network management functionality, and tools for generating end-user certificates.
"Over the next three to six months ... we will ship products that unify that triangle," he said. "We will announce that as a
product line and as a product strategy and give it a brand."
Extensible Markup Language will also be part of this strategy. The technology makes it possible to "stitch" together
various applications and provide a single sign-on, allowing users to enter a single password and gain access to multiple
applications, Schmidt said.
"This is the sweet spot today for directory-based enterprise applications," Schmidt said.
Schmidt dismissed the analysts' suggestions that many companies using Windows NT today will choose Windows 2000
when it ships over Novell's Netware, based on Microsoft's mindshare and not so much on technology.
Microsoft has "an extraordinarily impressive marketing machine" that Novell will never equal, but users do care about
making the correct technology choices, for the good of their companies and of their careers, Schmidt said.
"It actually matters that our stuff stays up," scales, and interoperates, Schmidt said.
For example, Schmidt said, Novell plans to ship next month "an integrated NDS offering with support for Solaris, NT,
and Netware," because Novell recognizes that in order to reach its goal of dominating the enterprise market for
directory services, NDS needs to work across operating system platforms.
Similarly, Novell is committed to ensuring that its applications will work with multiple directories, not just NDS, Schmidt
said.
Novell also sees a big opportunity in the emerging electronic-commerce market because its technology is needed for
electronic transactions to be conducted successfully over the Internet.
"There is a very strong need for integrated directory-based networks" in the Internet and e-commerce space, Schmidt
said.
In this area, Novell recently launched a Web site called digitalme, the goal of which is to let users create a profile of
themselves for e-commerce and control the type of personal information that they make available to Web sites they buy
from, Schmidt said.
The Gartner analysts who participated in the panel were Neil MacDonald and Audrey Apfel, both of whom hold the
title of vice president and research director.
Gartner ITxpo ends Friday.
Novell Inc., in Provo, Utah, can be reached at www.novell.com.
Juan Carlos Perez is Latin American bureau chief for the IDG News Service, an InfoWorld affiliate.
infoworld.com
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Top News
Novell charges on with caching, online IDs
By Michael Vizard and Stephanie Sanborn
Posted at 1:54 PM PT, Oct 22, 1999
Novell will inch its Trojan horse directory strategy one step closer to the walls of Microsoft this week with new Internet service
provider alliances and the release of Version 1.1 of its Internet Caching System (ICS), as well as next month's intended release
of digitalme into the open-source realm.
Novell's basic strategy to compete with Microsoft is to get as many ISP and server vendors as possible to agree to bundle
Novell software with their offerings. Following that strategy, two additional ISPs, Akamai Technologies and Edgix, will expand
ICS' reach by using Novell's caching software. Meanwhile, placing digitalme online identity technology into open source might
create more interest in the underlying Novell Directory Services (NDS)-based technology among portals and ISPs.
According to Eric Schmidt, chairman and CEO of Novell, digitalme is expected to be released into open source next month,
keeping in line with a plan for open availability of digitalme source code and APIs that was outlined by Novell on Oct. 5.
"If Novell's goal is to have digitalme be widely available and widely used, they need to encourage the application development
environment. One obvious way to do that is by making digitalme open-source," said Virginia Brooks, an analyst and group vice
president of networking and telecommunications at the Aberdeen Group, in Boston.
But another analyst saw flaws in the plan.
"Just because it's put on the network doesn't mean the open-source community will pick it up. If you put it out there and there's
no interest, it will just sit there," said Dan Kusnetzky, program director for operating environments and servers at International
Data Corp., in Framingham, Mass.
Kusnetzky said he believes that Novell needs to make digitalme attractive to business people.
Novell is moving its caching strategy forward with the inclusion of Akamai's FreeFlow program and Edgix's content-distribution
technology in ICS Version 1.1. The 1.1 release adds support for forward and reverse caching of large FTP files, reporting
tools, and new security features, such as address-based access control for administrators.
ICS Version 1.1 is a precursor to a major 2.0 release, due out next spring. ICS 2.0 will include an API to ICS, which comes
bundled with a dormant copy of NDS. When 2.0 is released, all sites that upgrade will automatically have the directory enabled
on their sites, said Michael Jackson, product marketing manager at Novell.
Novell's fight to establish its product in this space should be fierce -- right now, the leading caching software used by most ISPs
comes from Inktomi.
However, Jackson contends that, as demand for real-time computing and zero-latency applications increases beyond the ISP
space, Novell will have the opportunity to deliver a tool that is faster and less complex than Inktomi's product.
Novell's ICS 1.1 will be released Tuesday, Oct. 26.
Novell Inc., in Provo, Utah, is at www.novell.com.
Michael Vizard is Editor at InfoWorld. Stephanie Sanborn is an InfoWorld reporter.
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