Z.E.N. and the Year 2000

By Paul McNamara
Network World Fusion, 8/26/98

Provo, Utah - NetWare customers grappling with Year 2000 problems may find help in Z.E.N.works 1.1, an upgraded desktop management tool Novell plans to ship later this year.

Yesterday Novell and Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), a British maker of Year 2000 software, announced that GMT's Check 2000 product will be bundled and work as a snap-in with Z.E.N.works 1.1.

Check 2000 finds and fixes Year 2000 compliance problems with PC Basic Input/Output Systems, operating systems, applications and data held by or shared between databases and spreadsheets.

Used in conjunction with Z.E.N.works and Novell Directory Services, Check 2000 will allow customers to remotely assess Year 2000 compliance on PC desktops and distribute new software or patches as needed, according to the companies. In addition, the combination of products will let administrators set desktop configuration policies and monitor end-user adherence.

Customers who apply Year 2000 desktop fixes manually risk more than simply running out of time, according to Novell.

"They'll go to every single PC painstakingly, and by the time they go from the first one to the last one, a year has passed," says Michael Simpson, a Novell product manager.

"The PC they started with could be completely changed by then and replaced by something else," which may or may not be Year 2000 compliant, he says.

According to GMT, the vast majority of companies have yet to address Year 2000 at the desktop level.

"We did a survey of all the other companies that sell Year 2000 tools and we reckon that so far [our industry has]checked maybe 1% of the world's PCs," says Karl Feilder, CMT's CEO.

Due to ship in the fourth quarter, Z.E.N.works 1.1 will cost $39 per node and include a free five-user version of GMT's Check 2000. Additional Check 2000 will be $15 per user.

Novell: (801) 429-7000. 0-3467