Novell broadens appeal of NDS, NetWare

Novell did two things last week: It introduced NetWare 4.2 and announced a directory deal with Tivoli Systems.

NetWare 4.2 is aimed at users leery of leaping all the way to NetWare 5.0 but who still need Year 2000 patches and 4.X bug fixes.

Meanwhile the Tivoli deal, first reported in Network World in October, pushes Novell's directory into the enterprise systems management realm. Novell has been working with Tivoli for six months, trying to tie the Novell directory to select Tivoli enterprise network management tools. The companies expect to have Tivoli Inventory, Software Distribution and User Administration software linked to Novell Directory Services by early next year.

The ties will let customers use the Novell directory as the central data store for network and user information collected by the Tivoli tools. Martin Neath, Tivoli's executive vice president, says Novell directory customers will reduce their network management costs by not having to maintain redundant databases for user information.

The two companies - which claim they have a significant overlap of Fortune 1000 accounts - are also working on software that links Novell's ManageWise server and desktop management package to Tivoli's Enterprise platform, formerly called TME 10. The new ManageWise Provider for Tivoli Enterprise will allow the two systems to share network alarms, network topology and inventory data. Additionally, Tivoli is building a management agent for NetWare 4.X servers. Currently, Tivoli's system can only manage NetWare 3.X servers. These two products will also ship sometime in the first quarter of 1999.

While the Novell directory folks were out courting Tivoli, the platform team was prepping a new version of the network operating system. NetWare 4.2, due to ship later this month, includes all of the Year 2000 software patches and bug fixes released since NetWare 4.11 was shipped 18 months ago. NetWare 4.2 also includes IP-based client software that will let users tap into any NetWare 5.0 servers sitting on the same network.

Additionally, the bundle includes a five-user starter pack of Novell's desktop administration tool, ZENworks; a five-user version of Oracle's database that runs on NetWare; and Netscape's FastTrack Server, which replaces Novell's own Web Server.

Novell built the final version of the NetWare 4.X line to help customers who don't want to swap out their tried-and-true 4.X servers for the new NetWare 5.0 bundle.

"A lot of folks aren't ready to make the jump to an all-IP system like NetWare 5.0," says Joe Doupnik, a professor in the computer engineering department at Utah State University in Logan. He has been beta-testing NetWare 4.2 alongside the department's NetWare 4.11 and 5.0 server. "This version gives them all the updates they need and fits right in at their comfort level," Doupnik says.

NetWare 4.2 will replace NetWare 4.11 and IntranetWare. Pricing starts at $1,095 and includes a five-user license.

Novell: (888) 321-4272; Tivoli: (800) 284-8654