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To: EPS who wrote (277)	9/19/1998 10:30:00 AM
From: EPS	Respond to of 288

Little-known software tool could lure Windows programmers to NDS and NetWare. It's one small step for Novell Inc., and one giant leap for resellers and network-software developers. In a bid to set a de facto directory-service standard long before Microsoft Corp.'s NT 5.0 Active Directory arrives next year, Novell has made a little-noticed play to lure NT developers to NetWare and Novell Directory Services (NDS). The networking company also has refocused its primary directory efforts on three server operating systems: NetWare, Windows NT and Sun Solaris. .......................................... ...................................... Rather than promote NDS across all major server operating systems, Novell senior vice president Chris Stone has quietly modified the company's directory strategy to blanket mainly NetWare, NT and Solaris. Novell marketing director Michael Simpson confirms the adjustment. The Solaris port will be the reference binary for other Unix vendors to examine or adopt. Novell hopes to bolster NDS's application support during an upcoming 50-city NetWare 5.0 tour with IBM Corp. Yet, even IBM's commitment to NDS is unclear at best. Big Blue in 1997 vowed to support NDS on AIX and OS/390, but the company is now extending its own eNetwork directory service across AIX, OS/390, Solaris and NT. Ideally, Novell wants to make NDS the de facto directory standard long before eNetwork and Active Directory become established rivals zdnet.com

To: EPS who wrote (277)	9/19/1998 10:34:00 AM
From: EPS	Respond to of 288

Novell hears administrators' prayers NetWare 5.0 is easy to use, and ZENworks lowers TCO, but stakes have risen in NOS game By Henry Baltazar, PC Week Labs September 14, 1998 Novell Inc. scores with the latest version of NetWare. PC Week Labs can say, without qualification, that Version 5.0 of the venerable NOS will make NetWare networks more capable and easier to manage--businesses should waste no time in upgrading their servers. zdnet.com

To: EPS who wrote (277)	9/19/1998 10:36:00 AM
From: EPS	Respond to of 288

Last week's release of NetWare 5.0 -- beating its Sept. 20 target date by a week and a half -- "is not the end of something but the beginning of a whole new set of things you can do on a directory-centric model," Novell CEO Eric Schmidt said during a morning speech. "We're entering a market with a backdrop of extraordinary change." Novell's strategy, honed since Schmidt took over the company a year www8.zdnet.com:80/pcweek/news/0914/14enov.html and a half ago, involves identifying and managing information for any user connected anywhere along a network. "The single most important issue for networks is identity," in the form of information about users and business partners, said Schmidt. "The mission is to integrate the Internet, intranet and extranet into one system. The challenges are building a structure, finding a location for everything and keeping it from destructing." While Novell obviously sees its products, particularly NetWare, NDS (Novell Directory Services) and its management tools, playing a critical role, the strategy "is much broader than any single product," Schmidt said. The networking industry is in the midst of a second major wave, according to Schmidt. The first wave was getting everyone connected; the second deals with the relationships of the people that are connected. "Everyone is affected by this, everyone has to solve the problem," added Schmidt, who said the phenomenon is "bigger than TV." To build off its strategy, Novell plans to roll out several products over the next six to nine months that improve directory management and scalability. Officials declined to provide further details. At the CIO forum, Novell rolled out a handful of key partners in support of its initiatives. Compaq Computer Corp. CEO Eckhard Pfeiffer and Intel Corp. Vice President Pat Gelsinger were among the executives on hand to pledge support for NetWare 5.0 and for working closely with Novell on future products. Microsoft Corp. was not part of the event, although the specter of the software giant hung over the question and answer session following the morning's presentations. Novell officials continued to soft-pedal their competitive relationship with the Redmond, Wash., company, pledging that NDS will interoperate fully with the forthcoming Active Directory in Windows NT 5.0 --- whenever it ships. Last week, Novell announced it would offer Microsoft's Internet Explorer as an option for NetWare.

To: EPS who wrote (277)	9/19/1998 10:38:00 AM
From: EPS	Respond to of 288

Java partners seek options By Michael Moeller, PC Week Online and Rob O'Regan, PC Week Online September 18, 1998 4:44 pm ET Interoperability concerns are forcing some of Sun Microsystems Inc.'s key Java partners to increase their efforts to create common guidelines and extensions for server-side Java--with or without Sun's help. The guidelines, based on Sun's enterprise APIs and specifications, are just the beginning for IBM (IBM), Oracle Corp. (ORCL), Novell Inc. (NOVL) and Intel Corp. (INTC), which are exploring further-reaching joint licensing and development deals to improve Java performance and compatibility. The efforts are an acknowledgment that gaps in enterprise Java specifications could stifle application and object compatibility, thus delaying deployment of server-based Java applications. "This is obviously necessary, especially since we are talking about Java interfacing with lots of different systems and legacy environments," said Robert Forbes, technology manager for First Tennessee Bank, in Nashville. "Questions about interoperability between different systems is an issue we are thinking about." The Java vendors are not completely excluding Sun from their work. Sun (SUNW) , with the help of IBM and others, is pulling together an extended set of interoperability specifications, dubbed the Enterprise Profile. The profile is expected to be part of the EJB (Enterprise JavaBean) 2.0 specification, said Alan Baratz, president of Sun's Java division, in Cupertino, Calif. Sources said Sun's goal is to have EJB 2.0 completed by the end of this year or early next. Independently of that effort, however, IBM and Novell are discussing ways to synchronize their server-side Java efforts, officials from both companies said this week. IBM is more than willing to license all or part of its Java server technologies, including the San Francisco project or Component Broker, to Novell, said Steve Mills, general manager of software services for IBM, in Armonk, N.Y. Novell, for its part, is eager to work with IBM. "If anyone is going to drive Java on the server, it's IBM," said Christopher Stone, senior vice president at Novell, of Provo, Utah. Interoperable IBM and Novell EJBs could, for example, enable a more seamless connection between Novell's NetWare and IBM's CICS transaction processor, Mills said. IBM, he added, is also working with Oracle to ensure JavaBeans written to access their respective DB2 and Oracle8 databases will interoperate. As a result, a database EJB could be created that could call data from either database without recoding. Novell, for its part, is working with Intel on a project, code-named Netfire, to boost Java performance on NetWare servers. One source close to Novell said the project involves a "clean room" JVM (Java virtual machine), meaning it includes virtually no Sun technology except for some class libraries. As a result, the new JVM, which the companies announced in June and plan to ship next year, could be at odds with Sun's Java compatibility requirements. Novell CEO Eric Schmidt maintained that Netfire is a Sun-based JVM. Novell's Stone, however, acknowledged a "frustration level" with Sun's ability to deliver the HotSpot compiler and Java Development Kit 1.2. Delays to those products, he said, are requiring Novell and Intel to do more development on their own, or with third parties, than they otherwise would have to do. "We're not going to change byte code, but we want to enhance" the JVM, Stone said. Officials at Sun, in Palo Alto, Calif., say they support vendors' efforts to enhance Sun's JVM-as long as they follow the guidelines of the Java license. "The licensing agreements allow people to extend, improve, enhance and bug-fix and to bring all that technology back so that we can give it back to everyone else," said Sun CEO Scott McNealy in an interview with PC Week earlier this week. "In fact, the new releases of the virtual machines have tons of code written by our partners. "We're thrilled to death if Novell will make some enhancements and additions to it and give it back so that we can give it to everyone else." www8.zdnet.com:80/pcweek/news/0914/18ejava.html