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

To: ToySoldier who wrote (26897)	5/12/1999 2:23:00 PM
From: gao seng	Respond to of 42771

2:15 NOVL May 12, 1999 (Tech Web - CMP via COMTEX) -- Novell and Lucent unveiled plans Tuesday to integrate NDS into Lucent's line of Definity communications servers.

To: ToySoldier who wrote (26897)	5/12/1999 4:38:00 PM
From: DJBEINO	Respond to of 42771

IBM, Novell detail directory strategies IBM is touting the infrastructure while Novell says it's the applications, stupid. By Scott Berinato, PC Week May 12, 1999 9:30 AM PT LAS VEGAS -- Both IBM and Novell Inc. have moved well beyond the concept of the basic directory data store to create comprehensive enterprise directory architectures. But as their strategies mature, they also diverge. The two companies outlined their strategies this week here at the NetWorld+Interop show. For IBM (NYSE:IBM), the infrastructure itself and the services surrounding it provide a compelling offer to enterprises. In that vein, the Somers, N.Y., company debuted services built around a metadirectory and supporting software architecture called SecureWay. Novell (Nasdaq:NOVL), meanwhile, contends that users will flock to the applications that run on top of the infrastructure and not the infrastructure itself. So Novell this week touted new enterprise directory applications, like BranchManager for NT, as the best way for users to tap the power of directories. Big Blue's three pillars IBM's SecureWay architecture consists of three pillars: the metadirectory based on IBM's DB2 relational database engine, FirstSecure security and policy software, and a suite of communications software. The linchpin of SecureWay, though, is the services surrounding it. IBM has signed on partners including Deloitte and Touche and Software AG to offer the SecureWay package and the surrounding deployment services companies will need. "Planning and migration alone is easily a six-month process," said SecureWay general manager Jeffrey Jaffe. The SecureWay package won't ship until the end of the summer, although the services will be available immediately from partners and from IBM itself, Jaffe said. Developers supporting the architecture with applications include Entrust Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq:ENTU), Oblix Inc. and Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq:SYMC), among others. Novell branches out For its part, Novell is content to seed the market with NDS (Novell Directory Services) Version 8 at a minimal cost and sell applications that run on top of it. BorderManager and ZENworks are early examples that have been shipping for some time. BranchManager for NT has now been added to the roster. BranchManager will manage NT servers through the NDS for NT directory. It combines authentication, user management and server management applications that run on NetWare for customers who want to include NT servers in an NDS-managed enterprise. A five-user license will cost $995. Additional licenses will cost from $245 to $1,225, depending on how many are purchased. BranchManager is available now. Novell also is increasing the value of the directory through third parties. For example, this week Lucent Technologies Inc. committed to NDS-enabling its Definity voice-data switches. Novell has other applications that run on top of the directory in the works, said Senior Vice President Chris Stone. Two, especially, he wants to ship soon -- a single sign-on application and a "ZENworks for networking devices" application. Metadirectory strategies diverge, too Like IBM, Novell plans to offer a metadirectory, called Virtual Replica, but even here the companies split in their strategies. IBM's SecureWay is a full-fledged directory repository based on the DB2 engine. Users will tie together other directories in their networks by replicating the data into this new master directory. "You want to be able to synch your data from the lower-level directories into the main directory and vice versa, and a virtual repository won't do that," said Jaffe. Novell's Virtual Replica, on the other hand, will only provide users a single management interface into the myriad directories in an enterprise. It will not replicate that data into a new data store. Stone said adding yet another directory will only add complexity. "You want to move to a single-tree design without adding that whole other layer," he said. Both Stone and Jaffe agreed that their companies must cooperate while they compete. Standards and metadirectories require vendors to work together; otherwise, the market will stall as heterogeneous networks are faced with deploying directories that won't support their complex infrastructure or talk to other directories in the network. zdnet.com