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Technology Stocks : Novell (NOVL) dirt cheap, good buy? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Spartex who wrote (30117)	1/31/2000 1:57:00 PM
From: Spartex	Respond to of 42771

January 30, 2000 9:00pm Novell and Cisco mapping out the network By Scott Berinato and Paula Musich PC Week Compelling, if not killer, directory applications are on the way to help streamline the deployment and management of routers and switches. Cisco Systems Inc. and Novell Inc. each plan to release in March directory-enabled networking hardware configuration and management applications. Vendors have long promised that such applications would be a key to exploiting the power of directories. But standards issues and delays in the release of a crucial directory, Microsoft Corp.'s Active Directory in Windows 2000, have thus far kept the functionality out of users' hands. But standards have finally been cleared, and with Active Directory shipping in two weeks, companies such as Cisco and Novell have an opening to release foundation tools for what both companies hope will be a series of applications that simplify network device management. Cisco, of San Jose, Calif., will formally introduce CNS/AD (Cisco Networking Services for Active Directory). The software, which Cisco showed at Comnet here last week, stores information such as hardware configuration, quality-of-service settings and policy settings for the hardware in the directory. It uses Active Direc tory as a data store. CNS/AD is based on the DEN (Directory Enabled Networks) specification, which defines how directories and networking equipment talk to each other. The Cisco software works with Cisco equipment and is targeted at service providers. Separately, Novell, of Provo, Utah, will announce at its BrainShare user conference that it is shipping ZENworks for Networks, formerly code-named DENworks. Like CNS/AD, ZENworks for Networks is based on DEN and stores configurations and policy settings in a directory. However, ZENworks for Networks uses Novell Directory Services' eDirec tory for its data store. It supports equipment from networking vendors including Cisco, 3Com Corp. and Nortel Networks Corp. Neither Cisco nor Novell has set pricing for its products. Such directory-based networking configuration and management software should offer IT managers huge benefits. First, it speeds deployment of applications and equipment by allowing network administrators to set up template configurations in the directory. When new devices are brought online, administrators apply the stored configurations on the fly, instead of having to manually configure them. Directory-based networking also lets administrators apply policies based on the user, not the machine. That way, for instance, users who have been allotted more bandwidth will receive that bandwidth from the switch no matter where they're authenticating from. IT managers can set policy by application as well. Cisco is also busy porting other software products to the direc tory. CNR (Cisco Network Registrar), due in March, provides DNS and DHCP services to networks. Another product, User Registration Tracking, which began shipping last week, assigns policy to mobile users based on their authentications. Some IT managers said they believe the tools hold enough promise for them to take an active role in their development. Jeffrey Carpenter, project manager for enterprise IP services at Ernst & Young LLP, in Lyndhurst, N.J., likes the Cisco tools and has worked to get Cisco to ensure that CNR was interoperable with Microsoft software beyond the standards level. "We worked hard to make sure [Cisco and Microsoft] put their products in the other's labs," said Carpenter, whose company is a Windows 2000 Joint Deployment Partner. "We pushed to make sure the inconsistencies were ironed out because standards are always just a baseline for interoperability." Carpenter said E&Y will take a similarly active role in ensuring CNS/AD and Windows 2000 work well together. "The capabilities of CNS/AD are appealing," he said. "We have a large investment in both companies, so we're looking forward to being actively involved." DEN benefits Easy hardware configuration through parameters stored in the directory Users' policies follow them as they roam around the network IT can apply application-specific policies to the entire network infrastructure Administrators can apply security parameters stored in the directory to network hardware zdii.com