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Monday March 22, 9:56 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
Cabletron and Novell Collaborate to Bring Directory-Enabled Networking to
the Enterprise
Companies Ink Licensing Agreement and Demonstrate Novell Directory Services Integrated with
Cabletron SmartSwitch Router at BrainShare '99
SALT LAKE CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 22, 1999-- Cabletron Systems (NYSE:CS - news) today announced that it is working with Novell to integrate its
Novell Directory Services (NDS) technology into its industry-leading lineup of Smart Networking solutions. At the same time, Cabletron and Novell announced the
signing of a software license agreement that will bundle and integrate Novell Directory Services® (NDS(tm)) with Cabletron's SPECTRUM, SmartSwitch and
SmartSwitch Router platforms. Together, the companies form a valued partnership to deliver standards-compliant directory enabled networking (DEN) products that will
reduce cost of network ownership and administration for enterprise customers, while significantly improving manageability and the quality of network service.
As part of an aggressive initiative to support standards-compliant directory enabled networking, Cabletron will demonstrate the integration of NDS with its SmartSwitch
Router platform during Novell's annual BrainShare conference, to be held March 21-26, 1999 in Salt Lake City, Utah. The combination of Novell's Directory Service with
Cabletron's networking equipment represents the companies' shared goal to further industry standards for DEN, as well as advance policy-based networking.
The new relationship between Cabletron and Novell will allow the companies to collaborate in supporting industry standards that give customers the ability to build and
manage heterogeneous networks. As members of the Desktop Management Task Force (DMTF), Cabletron and Novell will collaborate to develop solutions based on
the DEN specifications in order to promote the adoption of these open standards industry-wide.
Customers will reap significant benefits from the companies' combination of directories and networks. This includes the automation of previously time consuming network
configuration and administration processes. ''Cabletron is leveraging its multi-vendor management expertise with SPECTRUM while recognizing the value of the
Directory and acting aggressively to incorporate the industry leading NDS into its Smart Networking solutions,'' said Chris Stone, senior vice president of strategy and
corporate development, Novell. ''Together, Cabletron and Novell will deliver configuration, administration, and troubleshooting benefits as businesses everywhere deploy
directory-enabled networks.''
''The Cabletron/Novell partnership leverages both our core strengths,'' said Craig Benson, chief executive officer of Cabletron Systems. ''Not only has Novell been a
Cabletron customer and partner since 1992, but both companies are pioneers in the directory enabled networking arena. Our ten years of multi-vendor management
expertise coupled with Novell's ten years of directory services development yields a true recipe for success. In fact, customers and industry analysts are telling us that
they see this as a match made in heaven.''
Leveraging the intelligence of NDS, administrators can set policies to guarantee consistent performance of the network for the applications, users or data that are most
critical to the success of their company's business. For example, to ensure that IT resources are aligned with the business processes they support, priority bandwidth can
be allocated to individual users and mission critical applications such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), E-Commerce and Knowledge Management.
''Directory services is one of the most important technological advances in networking,'' said Mike Skubisz, Chief Technology Officer at Cabletron Systems. ''There is
tremendous value in using directories to correlate network traffic to users and applications so we can understand how different business processes impact - and are
impacted by - the network. Cabletron possesses a unique advantage in the directory space because of our multi-vendor heritage and unparalleled scalability.''
Network administrators will be able to offer their business' end-users guaranteed access to critical network resources leveraging SPECTRUM service level management
and business process management applications. Forthcoming SPECTRUM policy management applications enable security and quality of service rules to be established
on an enterprise-wide basis to ensure flexible, scalable and reliable access to key applications.
Cabletron's support for directory enabled, policy based networking will be based on its SmartSwitch Router 2000/800/8600 Gigabit LAN/WAN routing platform. Offering
the most compelling price/performance solution in the industry, Cabletron's award-winning SmartSwitch Router is a full-function, standards-based multiprotocol routing
platform with a unique ability to offer application-level control by switching packets at Layers 2, 3 and 4. The SmartSwitch Router offers a full array of Security and
Quality of Service (QoS) features - without compromising performance. According to a recent Dell-Oro Group study, the SmartSwitch Router holds an impressive 33
percent market share in the chassis-based Layer 3 switch category.
Policy-based networking functionality integrated with Novell NDS is forthcoming for other members of Cabletron's Smart Networking solutions including SPECTRUM,
SmartSwitch and SmartSwitch Router product lines over the next 12-18 months.
About Novell Directory Services
Novell's directory technology, NDS, is the world's leading directory service. It is the unifying, cross-platform infrastructure for managing, securing, accessing and
developing to all the major components of a network. NDS supports more APIs, tools, standards and protocols than any other directory service. The advanced
functionality in NDS offers a strong development foundation for delivering secure, manageable network applications. The market-proven and powerful structure of NDS
streamlines administrative tasks to minimize management time and expense.
About Cabletron
Cabletron Systems, the premier provider of enterprise-class networking solutions, delivers dependable networks access and communications to millions of people
worldwide. With scaleable products designed for Fortune 1000 enterprise networks, service providers and small businesses, Cabletron provides simple, reliable and
cost-effective business solutions for the information age.
Cabletron's web site can be reached on the Internet at cabletron.com.
Contact:
Karen Gordon
Cabletron Systems
(603) 337-2639
kgordon@ctron.com
or
Nicole Peters
Ruder Finn
(212) 593-6376
petersn@ruderfinn.com |
