NDS Powers Hosted Apps
Jeffrey Schwartz
Orem, Utah - As Novell readies the next version of its flagship directory software, the company is looking to extend the technology's reach beyond the walls of the enterprise.
This week, Novell will disclose the first in an expected series of partnerships with Internet backbone providers aimed at broadening deployment of Novell Directory Services.
With NDS installed in the service provider network, IT managers will be able to outsource critical applications such as Internet connectivity and remote access while retaining tight management controls, Novell officials said.
Apex Global Internet Services (AGIS) will deploy NDS and Novell's BorderManager caching and VPN software to offer VPN services and user account management. Over time, AGIS will add provisioned quality of service (QoS) and application hosting across multiple networks.
The latter is contingent on NDS being supported by a wide variety of networking gear; Cisco, Lucent Technologies and Nortel are all readying versions of their products with NDS functionality.
Those products are scheduled to start shipping sometime in the next quarter.
Some IT managers said they like the idea of outsourcing directory-enabled applications, but they cite pricing and security as potential causes for concern.
"It's quite a bit of work to maintain that external part, but it all comes down to price. We would need to see security demonstrated and we would want to have full end-to-end control over the process," said Orrie Holmen, enterprise network administrator at the Dallas Area Rapid Transit, which uses NDS and BorderManager internally to provision its Internet services.
Other customers said they have no interest in turning over their applications to an ISP.
"I believe in central management, so I don't think having someone else manage it is interesting," said Julie Powers, senior technology lead at ReliStar Financial Corp., an insurance company.
"We would be too concerned about security," added Kerry Hollis, assistant vice president of LAN and WAN projects at South Trust Bank.
Novell's partnership with AGIS is the first of an expected flurry of deals with ISPs and carriers, Novell officials said.
NDS will let providers offer levels of service and access rights based on who they are in the directory. AGIS will begin offering NDS-enabled services this summer at an undisclosed price.
Novell officials said NDS services offered by AGIS and other providers will be important to IT organizations that want to use directory-enabled networking technology but don't want to manage it internally.
"In general, there really isn't any QoS on the Internet unless you stick with a particular backbone player," said Novell chief scientist Drew Major. "That's what backbone players are scrambling to offer."
More Customer Control
AGIS officials view hosted service based on NDS as an opportunity to let corporate customers subscribe to QoS without investing in the infrastructure.
"This will allow customers to have a lot more control over their networks," said CEO Al Adams. "And it will allow that control from their LANs."
The service will hold particular appeal to small and midsize businesses, said Jamie Lewis, president of the Burton Group consultancy. "They don't want to pay for the staff," he said.
The services initially will require customers to use NDS in their enterprise to maintain local profiles for users of the service.
Andrew Percy, president of Puzzle Solutions, which itself offers outsourced VPN and network services using Novell technology, warned that Novell has a shaky track record when it comes to carrier services.
He pointed to the failed NetWare Connect service, which enabled users to access corporate networks via a telco and, more recently, the Internet Enhanced Service Provider program, an application service provider offering unveiled roughly one year ago. A Novell spokesman said that program has taken longer to roll out than expected.
Service provider functionality is included with the new version of NDS, which Novell released to beta last week and plans to demonstrate at its BrainShare user conference in Salt Lake City next week. Novell will demonstrate NDS version 8 with 1 billion entries.
By comparison, the current version maxes out at 1 million entries. The release also will add native LDAP support.
"The directory is the integration point for the enterprise as well as the Internet," said Chris Stone, Novell's senior vice president for strategy and corporate development, in unveiling the NDS beta last week.
"Essentially, what most people want out of e-commerce is to extend these internal systems to make them self service and secure over the Internet," said Michael Simpson, Novell's director of strategic market planning.
Also at BrainShare, Novell will demonstrate a point-release upgrade to NetWare 5, which will include improved Internet standards support and multiprocessing.
Standards support will come in the form of a native HTTP server built into the NetWare platform.
Novell said 6 Pack, the code name for the new release, also will incorporate NDS 8.
While NetWare 5 has limited multiprocessing capabilities, 6-Pack will add multiprocessing to print, file, security, storage management and connectivity functions of the NOS.
The company will demonstrate the new release on an eight-way Compaq server at the show. And a Compaq spokesman confirmed that the PC manufacturer will demonstrate a server dedicated to caching. He would not elaborate, other than to say that it will be a single-function caching "appliance."
Brian Faustyn, Novell's director of product marketing, also said Novell will demonstrate Modesto, its 64-bit version of NetWare designed for servers powered by Intel's forthcoming Merced processor.
The company has not disclosed when 6 Pack will ship, but it will be released in limited beta next month. Novell's goal is to ship Modesto when Merced ships. Intel has scheduled Merced for release in the middle of next year.
Copyright ® 1999 CMP Media Inc.
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