Global Network Services: Novell's Strategy for Enabling a Smart Global Network

Articles and Tips: article

A NOVELL WHITE PAPER

01 Dec 1995

In September 1995 Novell announced its renewed focus on networking and released a series of White Papers in support of that announcement. This Application Note is a reprint of one of these White Papers, outlining the role that various Novell products, services, and strategies will play in the building the smart global network envisioned for the future.

Other White Papers mentioned in this document are available on the World Wide Web (http://netware.novell.com) or by calling 1-800-NETWARE (800-638-9273) or 801-429-5588.

• Building a Global Network with a Billion Connections
• Novell's Vision and Strategy
• Smart Network Services
• NetWare OS and Core Services
• NetWare Extended Services
• NetWare Connect Services (NCS)
• NetWare Internet Services
• Opening the Smart Network to Solution Developers
• Net2000 Makes Using Distributed Applications Easier
• Product Roadmap
• Conclusion

Building a Global Network with a Billion Connections

Information is one of the most important commodities people consume today. Increasingly, access to information provides a competitive advantage for businesses and empowerment for individuals. The dramatic advances over the past 30 years in information creation, collection and dissemination are fundamentally taking down the boundaries of distance, time, politics, economics and business. And this information revolution has been driven by computing.

Starting decades ago with the mainframe computer, the first wave of the computing revolution empowered enterprises to manage huge volumes of information, fueling massive growth in the scale of commerce worldwide. Then, 15 years ago, the personal computer began the second wave of the computing revolution, bringing the power of information creation to individuals. Now, the third wave is upon us, enabling both the enterprise and the individual to instantly collaborate and communicate information through global networks. As the world's information becomes available in electronic form over networks, universal access to a smart global network will fundamentally change the way we work, play, educate and govern ourselves.

Novell is redefining the concept of networking to meet changing customer needs. Novell first defined PC networking when it introduced the NetWare network operating system with file and print sharing services more than 10 years ago. NetWare enabled PC users to build communities - workgroups in which they could seamlessly share files and expensive laser printers and disk drives.

However, the traditional view that networks are a means of connecting computers to share files, software and printers is no longer sufficient to meet the exploding need for information communication today. Companies of all sizes are expanding ever faster into world markets that make up our global economy. People no longer work exclusively in traditional offices, tethered to specific servers and printers; they need to access information located worldwide, and they are much more mobile, traveling around the globe to conduct their business. As companies and the people within them become more global and mobile, their need to access information, resources and other people becomes more important and more challenging. Networks based on just traditional file and print services can no longer support these global needs.

Thus, for the last five years, Novell has been designing, developing and now is delivering the next-generation networking platform, capable of binding communities of individuals, workgroups and enterprises together into a single global network.

Novell's Vision and Strategy

Novell's mission is to enable a billion connections to a single global network. To achieve this goal, Novell has identified three requirements.

• First, reaching a billion connections will requiresmart network services that deliver on computing's unfulfilled promise to work intelligently for the user. Smart network services will identify who users are when they connect,where they are, what they need and how to work for them. The smart network offers value that appeals to everyone from the Fortune100 CIO creating a secure interenterprise transaction system to the high school student researching a report. The network will be an intelligent assistant, doing work that users would otherwise have to do themselves.

• Second, reaching a billion connections can only be accomplished if people can access the network anytime, from anyplace. This kind of pervasive access goes well beyond PCs - to telephones, fax machines, TVs, pagers, PDAs and an unending variety of specialized intelligent devices in the business and home.

• Third, reaching a billion connections can only be possible if the network brings into coherence a multitude of products and devices from many vendors. With an uneven infrastructure built over many years. The global network will always remain heterogeneous in our competitive, market-driven, changing world. The challenge is for the network to present a simple, logical view of a complex physical infrastructure.

To meet these requirements, Novell has developed the following networking solution architecture.

Figure 1: Novell's networking solution architecture.

Universal Access software solutions will provide the pervasive access to the global network required to reach a billion-connection network. Products comprising the Universal Access family are described in a separate white paper. Products within the Universal Network Interface layer will set forth the comprehensive programming interface to the global network for commercial, corporate and consulting developers to build network solutions. This set of interfaces is briefly presented below and is fully described in a separate white paper. Smart Network Services is the family of software products that will build a smart global network infrastructure and is the focus of this paper.

Smart Network Services

Novell's strategy for providing smart network services rests on four primary sets of products and technologies.

1. The smart network will depend on the NetWare OSand core NetWare distributed services, such as NetWare Directory Services ™ (NDS™). These form the fabric on which the rest of the network is built.

2. The smart network will depend on extended client-server solution services, such as management, electronic commerce, object broker and groupware services. These extended services provide packaged solutions to managing and leveraging the smart global network infrastructure.

3. To make smart networks reach beyond the workgroup or enterprise, a technology needs to be provided to link LANs from across the world into a single public data network. NetWareConnect™Services (NCS) will enable 2.5 million NetWare networks to connect as a single global LAN, preserving the performance, manageability and security of local LANs.

4. All of this must connect to the Internet. Through the enhancements Novell is delivering, NetWare, its extended services and NCS will offer fundamental improvements in the accessibility, manageability and functionality of the Internet.

These four sets of products and technologies are introduced on the following pages.

NetWare OS and Core Services

The following figure shows where the NetWare OS and core services fit in Novell's strategy for enabling a smart global network.

Figure 2: NetWare OS and core services.

NetWare OS: An Optimized Platform for Distributed Services

Getting the most out of the industry's leading networking services means running them on a platform that has been optimized for networking. The optimized NetWare OS is the best network platform because it is designed to meet the specific requirements of networking services. The proof is the high performance, scalability, reliability and manageability of NetWare Services running on the NetWare OS.

The following key features differentiate the NetWare OS from general-purpose OSs that are converted to provide some networking functions.

• Performance. NetWare is able to deliver the highest performance in the industry because it is designed specifically as a network OS. Novell optimized the NetWare OS with a true 32-bit architecture and many other features, such as hierarchical caching, burst mode, controlled services advertising and others that decrease response times, decrease network traffic and increase throughput.

• Reliability. NetWare leads the networking software industry by protecting business-critical data with the highest fault tolerance available. NetWare SFT III%#153;mirrors network servers, including hard disks, channels and memory, to protect data and continue to deliver networking services even if a server goes down due to a hardware failure or natural disaster.

• Manageability. Management can be the most expensive factor in a network's cost of ownership. NetWare has been refined to make it the most easily managed networking environment on the market. For example, NetWare is currently instrumented with more than 200 management alerts.

• Hardware optimization. NetWare provides optimized connectivity for all the components of the network because it does not add the overhead and increased hardware requirements needed by general-purpose OSs. The NetWare code is also optimized with features such as disk block suballocation to deliver maximum performance with a minimal hardware investment.

• Scalability. NetWare is optimized to deliver more services to more users than is possible with a general-purpose OS. Novell has demonstrated publicly the ability to provide simultaneous service to 1,000 clients froma single-processor Intel 486/50 PC. NetWare now delivers even greater scalability with Symmetric Multiprocessing (SMP), which supports multiple processors to deliver high-performance, CPU-intensive services, scalability and flexibility for network expansion, and increased capacity and bandwidth.

• Modularity. The compact NetWare architecture allows services - in the form of NetWare Loadable Modules™(NLMs™) - to be loaded or unloaded without taking the server down. This accommodates a dynamic network environment and extends the useful life of the network as it allows administrators to easily add new capabilities to the OS as new products become available. Most key NetWare distributed network services are implemented as NLMs today.

NetWare Core Services: The Fabric of a Smart Global Network

Novell believes that a smart global network will depend on a growing set of distributed network services for its operation. Without distributed services, networks:

• Cannot be smart and intelligent. When users connect to the network, the network needs to identify who they are, where they are, what resources they need and how it can work for them. Networks based on old-style network services cannot learn, remember or apply these attributes.

• Become vastly too complex as they grow larger. The inherent heterogeneity of a large network cannot realistically be managed directly by human beings. As the network grows larger, the network itself must be able to manage the heterogeneity.

• Do not scale up well. As the business and its network grow larger, each user must still attach and log in to specific servers in fixed locations with fixed names. Networks that scale up without distributed services are susceptible to faults and failures.

• Are difficult to use. While positioned by competitors as easier for small businesses to deploy, networks without distributed services are not easier to use, and they lock the small business or workgroup out of connecting their LANs to larger global networks.

Distributed services, on the other hand, define networking today:

• NetWare distributed network services make the network smart. Distributed services of the kind Novell is developing and delivering today enable the network to store and leverage attributes it learns from users and administrators, so the network can increasingly work in behalf of users automatically. For example, users will soon be able to dictate a document and ask the network to fax it to another person automatically.

  To do this, the network needs to remember the user and how he or she likes documents to be formatted. It also needs to know where to look for the recipient'sfax number. NDS can learn which network resources a user typically requires so when the user logs on NDS automatically sets up connections to those resources. Perhaps one of the ultimate expressions ofa smart network will be when a user can log in on the closest PC or any other computing appliance and get full access to hisor her personal desktop, network connections and applications - in other words, the user's complete environment - all the way down to screen savers.

  The smart network will be able to do this because it stores the information about the user in a personal profile in the NDS directory and the NetWare Advanced File System (NAFS).

• NetWare distributed network services present a simple view of a complex network. Distributed services establish a logical mask of the physical configuration of the network, so the network looks the same regardless of where the user, user information or network resources move. Novell believes that the only thing that will be more mobile than tomorrow's worker is the information he or she needs to work with. Distributed services homogenize the network for users, administrators and developers.

• NetWare distributed network services will scale up to a truly global network. Distributed services spread the functionality of the network across any number of physical machines, so the network becomes infinitely scalable. To increase the power of the network, administrators will soon be able to simply plug in additional hardware; the services and data will then be automatically load balanced onto the new resources.

  Because each distributed service is spread across many physical servers, it becomes inherently fault tolerant and resilient. In addition, the replication and redundancy required to present a homogeneous view of the network allow portions of the physical network to fail without bringing down network access or services.

• NetWare distributed network services are ideal for small businesses and workgroups. Distributed services will make small networks easier to manage just as they make large networks easier to manage. The reason is that they provide a logical view of the network rather than a physical view.

  For example, the hierarchical directories in a logical network are simpler to manage than the binderies in traditional networks, and messaging is easier to implement when it is integrated with the directory. Even more important, most small businesses can no longer run self-contained networks. More and more they are depending on outside services such as the Internet for information and services, and they need to connect to customers and vendors electronically to communicate, order products and provide services.

  Small businesses and workgroups are beginning to look much like branch offices of a globally networked economy. These small networks must deploy network systems and services that seamlessly connect and scale into the heterogeneous global network. NetWare distributed services will connect the small business or workgroup in to this global environment.

In short, NetWare provides the ideal distributed computing environment in the most cost effective way for all networks large and small. The following is a list of the core NetWare Services and a short description of each. White papers are available for most of these services with more detailed information.

NetWare Directory Services (NDS) NetWare Advanced File Services NetWare Distributed Print Services™ (NDPS™) NetWare Security Services NetWare Database Services NetWare Communication Services NetWare Licensing Services (NLS) NetWare Backup and Storage Services NetWare Mobile Services NetWare Telephony Services™ NetWare Host Connectivity Services NetWare Transaction Services

NetWare Directory Services (NDS)

Like the nervous system of an organism, directories are the nerve centers of organizations. Because of this, NDS provides the context for and relationships among all objects, services, applications, devices and users within the global network and will soon provide this for Internet sites. It also provides a set of attributes that easily allows devices, information, services and users to understand how they fit into the entire network. Through this context, the NDS directory can handle millions of objects that scale from the desktop to the enterprise to potentially billions of embedded devices.

NDS serves as a foundation that supports other networked services such as the NetWare Messaging and Object Services. This flexibility is due in large part to NDS' ability to accommodate new 'schemas', or object types. As new kinds of software and devices are added to the network over time, NDS grows to accommodate them. For example, new schemas will be introduced to enable NDS to broker, manage, and secure distributed OLE/COM components.

Other schemas will be introduced to manage and secure Internet Web sites. NDS provides central and distributed administration for all types of objects using a common set of straightforward GUI administration utilities. With this administrative simplicity, enhanced security & authentication, and easy maintenance & diagnostics, NDS significantly lowers the cost of network computing.

Because of these benefits, NDS is the most pervasive directory service in the industry, with more than 15 million NDS users and more than 20,000 NDS software development kits (SDKs) shipped.

Common Naming. Multiple directories currently exist within specialized applications such as accounting, human resources, E-mail and other databases. The challenge for most companies is the integration and consolidation of multiple unrelated directories into a single, common directory called a meta directory, which can offer positioning context and management for their entire company. Novell's vision of directory services encompasses the meta directory concept in offering more than just domain-level name-to-address resolution.

X.500 Interoperability. Because it has added functionality, NDS is a superset of the X.500 standard specification. Even though it has greater functionality than X.500, NDS provides an open architecture to allow other directories to interoperate and soon share directory information through standard X.500 protocols, namely DAP and DSP. NDS extends the functionality of X.500 by offering advanced distribution, replication, synchronization, flexibility, performance, extensibility and customization.

Novell will also extend interoperability between proprietary directories through third-party partners and open interfaces.

Central Administration. Because NDS is more than a simple domain naming service, administrators can use the power and extensibility of NDS to manage security access and relationships among users, services, devices, applications and other objects across the network. Through NDS, all components within the network can have their relationships defined, security and access managed, and greater interoperability with legacy systems.

Net2000 Support. NDS currently offers a robust set of APIs that give developers access to the full power of a directory service. Applications written to existing APIs will continue to be fully compatible with NDS. Net2000 will simplify and extend existing NDS interfaces to make it easier for applications and services to become directory-enabled. Using Net2000 interfaces, developers will be able to create desktop applications that leverage the content of the directory, application services that register themselves in the directory for clients to then access, and utilities to manage directory information in new and unique ways.

NetWare Advanced File Services (NAFS)

NAFS is Novell's next-generation file service that will provide the storage infrastructure organizations and individuals need to collaborate in a global community. With changing computing needs - mobile access, compound documents, object-based computing, imaging and others - and more and more information being generated from the desktop, file services must be expanded to provide the storage infrastructure organizations and individuals need to collaborate within and between workgroups and enterprises.

As a distributed file service, NAFS is not limited to a specific server but is interwoven into the network fabric to span multiple servers and devices. With NAFS, users will not need to map to physical volumes in servers but rather to logical volumes in networks. It supports multiple types of information storage and tightly integrates with NDS, NetWare Storage Management Services™ (NetWare SMS™), NetWare Security and other network services. And NAFS will support the future in object-based file services while preserving access to legacy file systems that exist today.

Compound Documents. Compound documents are documents that contain multiple embedded or linked objects such as files, images, text and voice. These include OLE objects and will also include OpenDoc parts. When documents are based on objects in this fashion and as objects are distributed across servers, an advanced file service must provide the ability to manage them. NAFS provides this infrastructure in the smart global network. NAFS offers enhanced performance to optimize, manage and store compound document objects transparently within the network. The result is easier administration, backup and access. For example, users will be able to query the network file system to find all objects - inside any number of documents anywhere - relating to any topic.

Global Replication. NAFS supports file replication and caching to ensure that users can always get the information they need, even when they are intermittently connected to the network. Users will be able to work on any files or objects while disconnected. When they reconnect, NAFS will automatically synchronize the files or objects.

High Capacity. NAFS is a 64-bit file system, designed to handle limitless amounts of information. Unlimited volumes per server; support for multiterabyte files; and support to handle billions of files, directories and objects are part of the vision and architecture of NAFS.

Global File Names. NAFS will be integrated with NDS to provide global names for all documents, objects and files across the network. Information will become location independent without affecting the user, and the file system will become manageable using NDS-enabled administration and management tools.

Net2000 Support. Distributed applications will require more robust storage interfaces to handle the different types of data and information across the network. NAFS will offer rich information access and storage APIs within Net2000 to meet the changing needs of information storage.

NetWare Distributed Print Services (NDPS)

Novell set the standard for print services, and now it is raising that standard. NetWare Distributed Print Services (NDPS) is a completely new way for printers and output devices to become full participants within Novell's smart global network. Novell developed NDPS together with Hewlett-Packard and Xerox to simplify printing and to enable intelligence in peripherals across the network. With the intelligence NDPS offers, printers can now communicate back to applications, users and administrators on their status and operation.

Integrated with NDS and other NetWare Services, NDPS-enabled peripherals become more intelligent, secure and manageable. NDPS provides networkwide printing and communication among peripherals capable of supporting the networks of today and tomorrow. As one example of the power of NDPS, users will soon be able to use standard desktop applications to instruct next-generation office copier-printers to print, collate and bind documents automatically.

Bidirectional Communication. NDPS-enabled printers can give the users and applications continual and complete status on a print job. Printers can also inform users and administrators when more toner is needed, of printing errors and when special interaction is needed.

Peripheral Intelligence. Hardware vendors will be able to add the same intelligence to other kinds of input output peripherals on the network, such as fax machines, copiers and scanners. NDPS offers an open architecture that will be delivered to hardware vendors through Nested NetWare, expanding network peripherals to include virtually any device with a CPU.

Plug-and-Print. NDPS printers can connect directly to the network using the plug-and-print option of NDPS, and drivers automatically download to applications so users can print without administrative headaches. NDPS integrates with other NetWare core services such as NDS and Security to provide a global service that allows location-independent printing, access control, accounting, licensing and management. NDPS will allow peripherals to be managed from SNMP consoles and tied into the overall fabric of Novell's smart global network.

Net2000 Support. Net2000 will include NDPS interfaces that will allow developers to build advanced applications and utilities to leverage intelligent NDPS peripherals.

NetWare Security Services

Network computing must rely on comprehensive security across all components and devices within the heterogeneous network. Strong authentication, encryption and access control establish the integrity of distributed computing and are the part of the fabric that enables electronic commerce. Without this core foundation, future security services such as public key management, certificate authorities, smart cards and digital signatures cannot fully be deployed across the network. Novell is the recognized leader in delivering network security. Novell has established an overall architecture that encompasses a trusted computing base for the network. Using the power of NetWare Services and working with third-party partners (trusted workstations and devices), Novell has set the standard in network security, from the small network to the global network.

Secure Architecture. Network servers, client workstations and the network connection create a single secure environment to run your business and perform secure transactions. All NetWare-based services running in this environment can use common encryption technologies and apply common access control and support authentication. Security will be pervasive and consistent across all NetWare Services within the global network. Enhanced auditing, accounting of network use, easier security management, and the ability to accommodate third-party components securely will further differentiate Novell's security architecture from desktop-centric security solutions.

C2/E2 Certification. Novell has set a precedent in being the first vendor to enter formal evaluation for a Trusted Network Interpretation (TNI - RedBook) certification for the workstation, network and server, not just the operating system. This certification will establish the basis for electronic commerce and give third-party ISVs the assurance they need to build secure distributed applications and solutions.

Net2000 support. To enable development of secure distributed applications, Net2000 will expose security services to enable network authentication between applications, services and devices. Single signon for applications, services and networks will be enabled through Net2000 APIs for NetWare Security Services and NDS. Net2000 interfaces for cryptography, encryption and digital signatures, and other open interfaces to these, will allow applications to include advanced security features and functions.

NetWare Database Services

NetWare Database Services work together with NDS, NWAdmin and ManageWise™ to provide easy administration and management of third-party network database engines. With data capacity of up to 32 terabytes, the most scalable processor design available for the Intel environment and unequalled reliability in SFT III, NetWare Database Services provides the client-server database platform for today and tomorrow.

Oracle 7.2, announced at Oracle's International Users Conference in September, is an excellent example of the robust, powerful, yet easy nature of NetWare as a database platform.

NDS Integration. Oracle 7.2 provides complete NDS integration for security and administration and easily scales on NetWare from the workgroup to the enterprise. NDS remains the competitive advantage for databases and applications in the NetWare environment. Administrators can manage users and the database engine easily using NDS-enabled tools.

Parallel Query. While SMP is valuable as user counts grow, the ability of the database to parse out a complex query to processors in an SMP environment is also often a requirement. Novell is working with several database vendors to provide this.

Clustering. No matter how big the machine, at some point SMP simply isn't enough. Clustering allows multiple NetWare servers to provide a single image to the database, thus greatly increasing the power of the network and the database by allowing complex requests to be shared among servers. Novell is working with key partners to enable this technology.

NetWare Communication Services

Network services and distributed applications must be able to communicate and share information independent of platform, location or communication protocol. Novell is committed to supporting network services and applications across all transport protocols that are strategic and important to users today and in the future. Thus Novell currently supports a wide variety of protocols, including TCP/IP, SNA, LAT, IPX/SPX and AppleTalk. It will also support future hardware protocols such as ATM that enhance wide area networking. Novell has been moving toward total transport independence in two stages.

Phase One: TCP/IP integration. Presently in phase one, Novell is providing support for TCP/IP networks through NetWare/IP™, part of NetWare 4.1. Novell will enhance NetWare/IP in a number of ways to seamlessly integrate NetWare Services within TCP/IP environments. NetWare/IP will be extended to support:

• Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) for easier administration of IP addresses across a network

• Improved network printing across IP networksand IP printers.

• Third-party TCP/IP stacks to allow freedom of choice across the network.

• Easier administration and setup through integration with NDS and NWADMIN utility.

Phase Two: Protocol Independence. In phase two, Novell will include in NetWare an enhanced communications service designed to enable NetWare Services and third-party applications to operate natively across multiple transport protocols. Novell Communication Services will support multiple transport protocols, including TCP/IP, IPX/SPX, AppleTalk and others through this facility.

Optimization for Wide Area Networks. Novell has provided the NetWare Link Services Protocol™ (NLSP™) to optimize the performance of IPX-based wide area networks. NLSPsignificantly reduces network traffic by reducing the overhead of basic network communications.

Net2000 Support. Distributed applications depend on the network to establish the interprocess communication (IPC) services between clients, services and devices. The interface to Novell's Communication Services will be published as part of Net2000 to enable all applications to be transport independent.

NetWare Licensing Services (NLS)

The new NLS will change the way networks, services and applications are used through its complete, open and standards-based electronic licensing solution for the network. NLS greatly simplifies the burden of software license compliance by enabling software applications running on the network to register their licensing policies electronically. NLS then provides tools to manage and enforce licensing agreements.

LSAPI Compliance. NLS is based on the licensing services application programming interface (LSAPI), which was standardized by an open licensing forum, including Novell, Microsoft and other vendors.

NDS Support. NLS adds the benefit of using the NDS directory to store licenses so they are easily managed for the entire network regardless of how small or large. This is a valuable benefit that other vendors cannot offer without a global directory service.

Administrators Get Application Management. With NLS, network administrators can define, manage, monitor and report the usage of applications, services and the network. This will give managers the power to manage software licensing from within the single, master directory provided by NDS.

Vendors Get Licensing Enforcement. Software vendors can use NLS to register their software licensing policies electronically then provide reliable tracking, accounting and access control.

NetWare Backup and Storage Services

Just as storage (file services) is a fundamental part of the network fabric, the management of storage in backup, archival, disaster recovery and online access is just as important. As more and more information is generated, it becomes critical for users and network managers to retain and store information over an extended time.

The NetWare Backup and Storage Services is thus a fundamental service for the smart global network. Through SMS, Novell has established an open architecture to allow third-party applications, such as those from Arcada, Cheyenne, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Legato, Palindrome, STAC, Symantec and many others, to protect and manage all types of data within a heterogeneous network. The SMS architecture promotes open access across multiple client desktops, including DOS, Windows, OS/2, Macintosh and UNIX™.

Network View. SMS takes a network-wide view of storage management, rather than a physical server view. By integration within NDS, SMS offers a unique way to back up objects across the network. Through NDS, resources and devices can be discovered and accessed by SMS applications for backup. Single point of administration and SMS's open architecture allow administrators to see the entire network and schedule backup and storage operations on any SMS object in the directory.

Third-Party Support. SMS is the only network architecture for storage management and backup that offers a wide range of third-party backup partners. Novell will continue to enhance the SMS architecture to enable third-party ISVs to add value to the network backup features.

Peripheral Support. NetWare provides the infrastructure for advanced storage device support through its NetWare Peripheral Architecture (NWPA). NWPA is the foundation for autodetection and autoconfiguration of storage hardware on the network, and it provides the diagnostic hooks needed to proactively manage storage devices.

Net2000 Support. Storage Management Services will provide developers with interfaces to help them identify how to back up their application-specific information. Through Net2000, SMS interfaces will enhance the way applications and their data are managed, organized and preserved.

NetWare Mobile Services

Traveling executives, on-site technicians and home-office workers all need seamless access to their business information. To enable people to access information anytime, anyplace, Novell's mobile computing strategy includes a NetWare mobile client, a remote access server called NetWare Connect, and partnerships with key hardware and software vendors to deliver a comprehensive mobile computing solution.

NetWare Connect. NetWare Connect is Novell's robust remote access service. NetWare Connect provides dial-in/dial-out connectivity with call routing, modem pooling and resource consolidation. It supports local calls and remote connections, NDS authentication for security, and global access to data and resources with a familiar interface. When a user dials in to NetWare Connect and authenticates to the network, all network resources are available, including local and remote services and networks.

NetWare Connect will manage the connection to the network, providing a central point of administration and control for all remote network connections. The enhanced security, scalability and flexibility make NetWare Connect the premiere remote access service for NetWare.

Mobile Client: Consistent Remote View. Because NetWare Connect is integrated with NDS, NetWare Mobile Client users have consistent access to familiar resources regardless of the location of the user or which resources are accessed. Mobile Client technology includes replication and synchronization for automated file handling, and location management and caching, which enables mobile users to have smart access to the network. This smart access will recognize the connection type and speed, adjusting the type and amount of data that is transmitted across the link. When disconnected, users can perform tasks as if all resources were available locally. When they reconnect, the tasks are automatically completed on the network. Providing mobile users a consistent view and set of addressable resources regardless of location and connection state is critical to Novell's commitment to connectivity anytime, anyplace. Users can access networks from corporate LANs to the Internet and BBSs.

Connectivity From Smart Devices. NetWare Connect will also be integrated with the Nested NetWare technology to give users access through other types of mobile clients, including PDAs, laptops and nontraditional devices such as set-top boxes. Such devices will also be able to gain access over multiple carriers, including radio frequency, microwave, infrared and so on.

Mobile IPX. Mobile IPX enables roaming users, such as those working in several locations on a business campus, to maintain their connection regardless of their physical location.

NetWare Telephony Services

NetWare Telephony Services is the industry leading, standards-based network telephony platform. It connects your existing telephone system, data network and information resources to provide call control and call routing, coordinate delivery of calls with the information needed for the call, and deliver call monitoring and reporting services.

Applying these three key features to call centers, workgroups and individuals, NetWare Telephony Services helps reduce telephone expenses, reduce labor costs, simplify phone usage and improve customer service. It also works with existing switch, network and (in most cases) hardware. It can easily be installed as a turn-key telephony server in any network, and it provides simplified administrative features when used in NetWare networks.

Users' existing desktop and business applications can easily be telephony-enabled by using one of the available TSAPI middleware solutions. By defining key-stroke macros and application launch commands within the middleware, users can have current programs automatically driven when calls arrive to present the user with information needed for the call. Desktop dialing, help desk applications, interactive voice response (IVR), voice mail, agent and call reporting solutions and other TSAPI integrated products can add additional value.

Reduces Costs. NetWare Telephony Services saves time and money for businesses, particularly those that use the telephone for primary customer contact. For example, a NetWare Telephony Services application can reduce the time customers spend waiting for an agent to answer the phone. Businesses reduce 800 number charges through faster call processing. Labor costs are better leveraged, as the same staff can answer more calls.

Benefits All Organizations. NetWare Telephony Services extends the power of CTI beyond the call center to all businesses, workgroups and individuals. Every organization can employ telephony applications previously available only on costly call center equipment. Applications can share networked databases to intelligently manage call flow and routing and much more.

Netware Services Integration. NetWare Telephony Services utilizes the network services of the NetWare operating system to provide reliable and secure telephony solutions. As a NetWare-based product, it can be administered by the existing NetWare-trained staff.

Industry-Standard Application Platform. NetWare Telephony Services is based on the industry-standard Telephony Services API (TSAPI), providing a consistent programming environment for application developers and switch vendors.

NetWare Host Connectivity Services

NetWare Host Connectivity Services is the foundation for a wide range of NetWare-to-host integration products from Novell and third parties. Together, these products offer network users the most comprehensive suite of IBM mainframe, AS/400, DEC and NFS connectivity solutions available.

The NetWare for SAA product family consists of NetWare for SAA, NetWare HostPrint™ and NetWare HostPrint/400. These products work together with NDS, NWAdmin and ManageWise to provide scalable, reliable and integrated solutions when connecting NetWare networks with IBM mainframe or AS/400 systems.

Scalability, Reliability And Performance. As customers consolidate their SNA networks and build wide area multiprotocol networks the requirements of an SNA gateway change. NetWare for SAA will continue to enhance the level of scalability, reliability and performance for NetWare users accessing IBM mainframe or AS/400 systems.

NetWare for DEC Access provides connectivity from NetWare servers to DEC minicomputers, enabling users to share files and resources between NetWare networks and DEC minicomputers. NetWare NFS Services provides bidirectional file and print sharing between UNIX and NetWare. UNIX workstations can stay in their native environment while accessing NetWare, and NetWare users can access NFS hosts as if the hosts were NetWare servers. NDS integration with DNS and NIS enables a single point of administration and management for NetWare-to-UNIX host connectivity.

NDS Support. NDS remains the competitive advantage for host connectivity products in the Netware environment. Administrators can manipulate users and host connectivity resources such as dedicated sessions and session pools.

NetWare Transaction Services

Based on a NetWare version of the market-leading TUXEDO® transaction management system, NetWare Transaction Services gives customers the ability to easily develop, reliably deploy and cost effectively manage distributed line-of-business applications. These include both high-performance transactional applications as well as general-purpose multitier client-server applications. Developers employ the services when building their applications, and administrators then use the services to deploy, configure and control operation of and access to the distributed applications.

Simple But Reliable Communication. NetWare Transaction Services provides a suite of robust, reliable and secure communications methods, message delivery and guaranteed data integrity among applications running on heterogeneous clients and/or servers.

Easy Management of Distributed Applications. By providing an infrastructure for controlling distributed line-of-business applications, administrators are able to easily and cost effectively deploy, configure or change the applications. TUXEDO will work together with NetWare Services such as NDS and Security and integrate with NWAdmin to simplify management. Integration of NetWare Transaction Services with other NetWare Services will them to reliably and securely support electronic commerce applications within the infrastructure of the global network.

Management. Novell's host connectivity products are integrated with the management service provided by the smart global network. Through ManageWise and NWAdmin, users, sessions, resources and applications can be monitored and controlled to enable a single point of administration for the entire network.

Net2000 Support. NetWare Transaction Services will enhance Net2000 by offering higher-level communications and transaction management APIs, helping users or ISVs in developing and deploying applications.

NetWare Extended Services

Built on the NetWare Core Services are the following extended services, which provide client-server solutions to key network computing needs.

Figure 3: NetWare extended services.

NetWare Object Services

As more and more developers embrace object-oriented programming models, the infrastructure to locate, manage and secure objects and object transactions across a network is critical for the deployment and support of object-based distributed applications. Distributed-object computing requires the networking services infrastructure to provide global naming (invocation and binding), access control, management, security and transactional control. Novell is in the best position to provide the networking services to support distributed objects across multiple object models.

Central Role of NDS. As the central repository for information about network resources, NDS will administer, manage, secure and broker access to distributed objects. For example, OCXs will be able to be registered as objects in NDS trees, enabling administrators to apply access privileges and other attributes to them. NDS will then expose these managed OCXs to OLE container applications through native OLE interfaces on desktops. The extensible NDS schema can accommodate any number of new types of objects that may emerge as operating systems evolve.

Supporting Multiple Object Models. Novell will provide the distributed object services infrastructure to support multiple object models, including OLE/COM, CORBA and OpenDoc/SOM. Developers will be able to use multiple front-end object programming models to access a consistent, global, managed view of back-end objects, running on any popular server platform. For example, a custom application running on Windows 95 could invoke through the robust, managed NetWare infrastructure an OCX object running on Windows NT, or a CORBA object running on HP-UX.

Advanced Transaction Functionality. While integrating client-based object technologies across the network, transaction services can greatly enhance the way objects are accessed and used in a distributed fashion. Novell is basing much of the implementation of NetWare Object Services on the advanced OLTP technology from its TUXEDO product family to enhance the overall networking services environment with robust object transactions. Because of this, application developers who use distributed objects will be able to employ transaction control to ensure mission-critical data and process integrity.

Net2000 Support. Basic object distribution functions will be transparently implemented under standard object models such as OLE and CORBA. Net2000 will extend these interfaces for managing distributed objects and object transactions on the network, leveraging other Net2000 interfaces for naming, communications, management and security.

NetWare Commerce Services

The phrase 'electronic commerce' has a different meaning to each vendor in the software marketplace. Desktop OS vendors believe that electronic commerce will be built in to next-generation operating systems. Browser vendors believe that electronic commerce is an extension of Web browsing. Telecommunications vendors consider electronic commerce to be enabled through enhancements to their analog and digital infrastructure.

These vendors share two things in common. First, they're all correct: each of these types of systems will play roles in the emergence of large-scale electronic commerce. Second, all of these products and services will depend on the network and its services to make electronic commerce a reality.

To understand the emerging world of electronic commerce, it is necessary to establish a basic model of how people will be able to conduct business online. Over time, individuals and businesses will conduct electronic commerce using two complementary models.

1. Electronic transactions. Individuals and businesses will be able to order products and pay for services through the network. For example, people will eventually be able to conduct all of their personal banking activities from their home PC through secure transactions over the network.

2. Information vending. The other model of electronic commerce will accommodate the sale and purchase of information. In this model, authors and content providers will provide their information in electronic form to aggregators. By collecting information from a wide variety of sources, the aggregator increases the breadth of the information for users. Aggregators may offer value-added services such as editing and analysis of data, making it more relevant to customers. A distributor then ensures the aggregated content is available in as many places as possible using facilities known as super-distribution and microtransactions.

These two technologies provide for the broad, secure distribution of information, ensuring that it will reach a maximum audience and that it will be paid for only when used.

Novell's strategy to deliver electronic commerce establishes three primary areas of focus:

1. Adding services to NetWare that will enable electronic transactions, super distribution, and microtransactions

2. Connecting these technologies to the Internet

3. Developing strategic partnerships with industry leaders responsible for other essential commerce components.

Through these development efforts and partnerships, Novell will actively lead the market in establishing standards that will meet the electronic commerce needs of businesses and individuals.

NetWare Services. The core NetWare services described in earlier sections play a fundamental role in delivering electronic transactions, super-distribution and microtransactions. NetWare Transaction Services will provide a fault-tolerant, scalable and manageable system for transactions. NAFS will provide an infinitely scalable storage system for electronic information distribution warehouses. NetWare Security will provide electronic digital signatures, encryption and other mechanisms to support secure containers. NDS will provide the central information repository of all individuals, businesses and resources participating in electronic commerce.

NDS will soon be able to store and manage commerce attributes of people, companies, and information bases. For example, by entering information into NDS objects, the general manager of a business division will be able to set purchase limits and security rights for his or her employees to purchase and access information online. These secure, manageable NetWare services will facilitate global transactions and content commerce in the coming electronic economy.

Commerce Over the Internet. To extend these electronic commerce facilities over the Internet, Novell is extending the NetWare environment itself into the Internet. Novell already offers several product solutions that link NetWare networks to the Internet and has several new initiatives underway to further this integration. See the NetWare Connect Services and NetWare Internet Services sections below for additional information on these initiatives.

Key Partnerships. As mentioned above, realizing electronic commerce on any large scale will require the cooperation of many vendors in several specific markets. If this level of cooperation does not materialize, the fundamental benefits of electronic commerce - greater efficiency and convenience in business relationships - will not be delivered.

Standards will not emerge, products and services won't interoperate and electronic commerce will stagnate. Novell is thus developing key partnerships with many of the leading suppliers of infrastructure technology to help lead the industry into setting standards across all the products and platforms necessary to accommodate end-to-end electronic commerce. Novell's relationships with AT&T, IBM, Netscape, America Online, Oracle, Sybase and others will help define the evolution of electronic commerce.

Partnerships with key industry developers will help standardize transaction protocols, digital signatures, secure containers and other essential technologies. For example, Novell's relationship with AT&T and other telecommunications carriers will add to the Internet the secure domain necessary to support electronic commerce.

NetWare Workgroup Services

Within Novell's smart global network, GroupWise and other forthcoming Novell office and group productivity solutions comprise NetWare's Workgroup Services. GroupWise is quickly becoming one the industry's most robust client-server messaging, groupware and collaborative productivity solutions.

GroupWise provides a complete E-mail, calendar scheduling and task management solution for small and large businesses. One of the most powerful features of GroupWise is its universal in-box, combining all messages, appointments, tasks, voice mail and faxes through add-on products.

GroupWise also provides excellent remote access, allowing mobile users to use virtually all features of GroupWise while disconnected, then synchronize when a network connection is made or when a phone call can be placed from the GroupWise client to the GroupWise server. More than 21 gateways and services are currently available to give users telephone access, E-mail connectivity between dissimilar systems, imaging, paging and faxing.

Building on its current functionality, the next generation of GroupWise will provide an unparalleled client server collaboration environment, including support for document conferencing and discussion threads, document management, hot-links to the Internet, voice mail integration via NetWare Telephony Services and multimedia content.

Because it is increasingly based on the NetWare Core Services, the NetWare OS and other third-party application servers, GroupWise benefits from all of the technologies described in preceding sections, and does not require that users deploy or manage a network infrastructure specialized for groupware alone. Many competitive offerings typically depend on specialized network services dedicated to groupware functions, which dramatically raise the overall cost of administration and management.

The Basic Netware Messaging Engine. Novell's Workgroup Services will be centered around the core messaging infrastructure of Novell's GroupWise product. Core components of GroupWise - the Message Transfer Agent and Message Store - will be bundled with future versions of NetWare. Included as part of the basic NetWare package, this infrastructure gives customers the ability to add additional groupware functionality through Novell and third party applications and services.

These GroupWise components will also provide easy migration tools to help NetWare MHS™, Global MHS™, Microsoft Mail and other messaging applications migrate to new-generation client-server messaging services. Third-party ISVs can continue to add value and solutions to the NetWare messaging services through Net2000 interfaces.

Integrated Services. GroupWise will increasingly leverage NDS, NetWare Security and NetWare Communication Services to provide a secure global messaging system capable of supporting millions of users. Services such as NetWare Management Services can also use the GroupWise messaging services to notify network administrators of network errors through pagers, fax and E-mail. They can even schedule a maintenance checkup - all electronically.

Central Administration. GroupWise integrated with NDS will deliver a single common administration and management infrastructure for general network services and groupware. Users known to the network will automatically be known to the messaging service. Advanced features of messaging applications will leverage the global naming and relationships that NDS provides to promote global workflow, task-based messaging and location-independent messaging.

Security can also be defined for both network and messaging users simultaneously, thus providing a common infrastructure for access control to network resources and messaging resources.

New Workgroup Services. GroupWise will play a key role in enabling the smart global network, offering the ability to extend communications beyond physical network boundaries to wide area networks and mobile users. Openness and support of modular solutions will characterize GroupWise products of the future, enabling users to build vertical collaboration solutions and developers to build horizontal add-on solutions.

GroupWise will also help reduce the cost of widespread collaborative computing though increased leveraging of the NetWare infrastructure, including NDS. This will provide solutions that are easily scaled and managed because each GroupWise component will share a common directory, a common installation and common administration tools.

In 1996 and 1997, Novell will begin to offer another class of workgroup network services, aimed at delivering the benefits of the network to office productivity applications. Users of next-generation PerfectOffice will be able to off-load lengthy and tedious tasks to the network. For example, they will be able to ask the smart network to summarize a lengthy document. They will be able to take the text of a letter, select a layout format, choose recipients from an NDS-based worldwide Rolodex-like file, and ask the network to format and send the letter to each addressee. With speech recognition built in to the network, user will be able to dictate the letter over the phone and instruct the network to do all of the work.

Net2000 Support. Full access to GroupWise will be exposed through Net2000. Novell's new messaging functionality will promote new and innovative distributed applications across the network. Support for standard E-mail interfaces such as MAPI will also encourage existing productivity applications to take advantage of Novell's evolving service. As new workgroup services are introduced, their interfaces will be made available through Net2000.

NetWare Management Services

According to analyst reports, network support represents more than 70 percent of the cost of network ownership. NetWare Management Services and NDS work together to significantly lower these costs in small and large organizations.

NetWare Management Services enables network managers to administer, configure, monitor, troubleshoot and support the network, from both central and distributed locations. The services include ManageWise, NetWare Navigator, the LANalyzer products, the NWAdmin utility and the new NetWare Application Manager.

Novell's ManageWise product, developed in an alliance with Intel Corporation, offers the only true end-to-end management solution for today's PC LAN. It enables network managers to centrally monitor, support and troubleshoot all aspects of the network - including desktops, network infrastructure, servers and network services - in a truly integrated fashion. ManageWise enables network and systems managers to monitor systems, analyze network traffic, track network assets, control user desktops and prevent virus infiltration.

Network and Systems Management. ManageWise is based on industry standards such as SNMP, tying management of NetWare environments into enterprise solutions such as HP OpenView and IBM SystemView. The open architecture of ManageWise is also supported by more than 100 add-on products from other leaders in the networking industry.

ManageWise is complemented by NetWare Navigator, which allows managers to centrally distribute and install software and data across enterprise networks.

Administration. NetWare Management Services enables network administrators to easily create and modify user and resource accounts on small to large networks. NWAdmin works together with NDS to enable managers to easily set up and modify directory trees,assign attributes to users, objects and resources through its graphical interface.

Application Management. The new NetWare Application Manager works together with NDS to simplify management of network applications by allowing administrators to centrally control users' Windows desktops. Using NDS, the NetWare Application Manager gives administrators the ability to create NDS objects that manage network-based desktop applications. These objects contain information about where the network applications are physically located on the network and which users are authorized to use those applications. Without leaving their workstation, administrators can deploy these applications as Windows application icons to user desktops across the network.

When a new application is added to the network, the administrator simply adds a new application object to NDS and specifies which users are authorized to use that application. The new application object will then dynamically appear on each authorized user's Windows desktop. Because the NDS application objects store pointers to the actual location of network applications, users no longer need to have drive mappings established through login scripts. Each NDS application object can store login script subroutines that the NetWare Application Manager can use to map additional drives and capture printers as users launch applications. This is a great example of a smart network.

Scalability. Because NetWare Management Services is distributed across the network, it scales to support both small-business and enterprise networks of today, as well as the global networks of the future. NetWare Management Services is accessible from anywhere, allowing managers to be mobile on the network. The services are also shareable by multiple managers, enabling them to cooperate on management issues while maintaining a consistent view of the network's state.

NDS Support. Access to NetWare Management Services in the global networks of tomorrow will be controlled by NDS so administrators and managers from multiple organizations can work together to troubleshoot and resolve issues that cross company boundaries.

NetWare Connect Services (NCS)

As the world moves ever faster toward a global economy, people and businesses need the tools and infrastructure that can ensure global transactions take place securely and reliably. Although this type of security and reliability are available on NetWare LANs and wide area networks, there is no public network available today that has both the security and reliability of a NetWare network and the reach of the telephone infrastructure.

In other words, there is no public global business network in existence today. NetWare Connect Services (NCS), a partnership between Novell and major telecommunications carriers throughout the world, is an initiative that will provide a single, integrated, secure business-to-business network on a global scale.

Through NCS, users will be able to connect to other NetWare networks - which currently connect 2.5 million servers with 50 million users - and other networks such as the Internet as easily as connecting in a workgroup today. Users will get the same security and services on this worldwide network as they get on their local network.

Figure 4: NetWare Connect Services.

NCS also opens the possibility for access to new resources. Users will be able to access vast public databases with images, sound and video, as well as the Internet. Applications run by telecommuni-cations companies or by third parties and hosted on the network will make accessing a global E-mail and groupware system much easier.

NCS will enable embedded systems such as automobiles, copiers, microwaves, alarm systems and vending machines to connect and take advantage of this secure, global business network.

Businesses and governments will also have the option to give their customers and constituents access to their network for a variety of interactions that would otherwise carry the costs of a face-to-face meetings or expensive private wide area networks.

NCS will enable a global electronic economy by providing a secure infrastructure on which to base electronic commerce. Reaching the network will be as easy as plugging into a wall socket. NCS will mask the complexity of the network from those who use it so they can quickly and easily locate information and resources regardless of their location.

Public Network for Business Customers

Novell will work with telecommunications companies to add value to the Internet, creating a worldwide public NCS network for business customers that offers:

• Seamless, easy access to resources located anywhere on the network

• Carrier-grade reliability and security

• 24x7 support and service

• Online customer support and outsourcing

• Standardized and simplified access that supports individual mobile connectivity on a global scale

AT&T is the first telecommunications company to license the NCS software and is using NCS as the foundation for the AT&T NetWare Connect Services offering. Novell will be licensing the NCS software to additional carriers around the world and working with those carriers to interconnect all NCS networks.

NCS Networks Create Virtual Enterprises

NCS will enable small and large companies alike to become branch offices of a larger virtual enterprise. Businesses will be able to use NCS networks for their own internal communications needs, to securely communicate with their customers, suppliers and trading partners, and to access the Internet and other online information sources.

Businesses Can Outsource Their Networks Through NCS

Businesses will also be able to outsource their networks to third parties for management and maintenance through NCS. Small businesses will be able to simplify and accelerate their access to a worldwide commerce and information network. They will also find this to be a painless way to gain two-way access to the Internet.

The Future

Novell is working with telecommunications vendors worldwide to build a global business network that satisfies the needs of the consumer and business community. Novell will also work with power utility organizations and cable companies to broaden the reach of the network, enabling hundreds of millions of people to access more than a billion connections.

Net2000 Support

NCS is based directly on NetWare core services. Thus, applications written to Net2000 interfaces will be fully deployable on NCS networks. NCS will dramatically expand the market for robust distributed applications, and Net2000 is the path for commercial developers to take advantage of this opportunity. Corporate and consulting developers will similarly benefit because the Net2000 applications they develop for local or enterprise networks will work across NCS networks with no changes.

NetWare Internet Services

The Internet has a large amount of diverse information and services for a variety of users. Today the Internet is used mainly for sending and receiving E-mail and researching and publishing information on the World Wide Web. However, uses of the Internet are growing fast as people discover the wealth of information that it makes available.

Due to this extremely rapid growth, the technology available for the transmission, organization and viewing of information has also evolved very quickly. This technology evolution includes browsers, information servers, document publishers, protocol support and applications.

Figure 5: All Novell services will connect to the Internet.

Accessing the Internet

Today Novell offers products that allow the user to connect to the Internet from the desktop while concurrently accessing UNIX systems and NetWare networks. Novell fully supports TCP/IP through NetWare/IP, which allows the user's desktop system to communicate with NetWare servers using IP. With this proven and established standard of technology, Novell is enabling its existing installed base to communicate electronically whether across a private or public IP-based network.

Applications

Novell's LAN WorkPlace is the world's top-selling application suite for TCP/IP. The LAN WorkPlace product family enables seamless access and navigation of the Web via standard applications and browsers. These applications today run via TCP/IP, but Novell will uncouple the applications from TCP/IP to enable a variety of protocols to be used as transport mechanisms in the future.

Many of Novell's Internet connectivity products provide for a single point of management of their entire network's TCP/IP address and directory structure. The LAN WorkPlace product family and the NetWare NFS Services family include NDS, DNS and NIS integration and single points of administration, installation and management of diverse networks.

Publishing

Novell will soon enable users to publish on the Internet using its WWW Server NLM. This NLM represents a significant value to the current NetWare installed base by taking advantage of the World Wide Web as an information repository. WordPerfect also includes an Internet Publisher feature to generate information in a form that allows it to be broadcast via a Web server. Using the Web Server NLM, customers can provide an information-hosting platform on a NetWare server. Until this, most of the Web servers have been UNIX based.

NDS Integration with the Web

The NetWare WWW Server NLM dramatically extends the Web's capabilities by linking into the NDS tree for security and adding features such as indexing, searching, metering, intelligent agents and electronic commerce facilities. The WWW Server NLM technology will offer several new features to make access to Web information easier and more secure on a NetWare platform and to eventually enable groupware and electronic commerce on the Internet.

The Future

While the Internet is an excellent source of creativity and information, it lacks a number of features needed for business-to-business communication and collaboration. Its lack of a comprehensive security model, including authentication, encryption and resource security; a lack of guaranteed and on-time transactions; and a lack of a directory as an information resource weaken the Internet's ability to work as a viable business tool.

Novell is working with telecommunications companies throughout the world to enhance the Internet by providing a secure, reliable NCS domain on the Internet to fully support the coming electronic marketplace.

Opening the Smart Network to Solution Developers

As information systems have evolved, users have chosen different platforms to run various line-of-business applications. These applications include vertical applications for finance, banking, human resources, health services and order tracking. Traditionally these line-of-business applications run on general-purpose operating systems such as UNIX, OS/2 and more recently Windows NT Server. Collectively these platforms, because of their ability to run line-of-business applications, are called application servers.

Application Server Integration Strategy

Historically these systems were loosely integrated into the network by redundant connections and specialized protocols. Novell's goal is to fully embrace these application servers into the NetWare network environment, giving users the benefit of choosing the application server that best meets their needs and combining all servers into one seamless, interconnected and easily managed system.

Novell will provide interfaces, tools and utilities that integrate application servers in the NetWare environment. Novell's strategy for integrating application servers into NetWare networks thus includes four initiatives:

1. NetWare AppServer Manager

2. NetWare Services Licensing Program

3. UNIX partnerships

4. Net2000 on application servers

NetWare AppServer Manager

To provide a lower cost of ownership and a simpler administration paradigm in a heterogenous network, Novell will soon provide the NetWare AppServer Manager that integrates the user administration and configuration of UNIX, Windows NT or OS/2 servers in a NetWare environment.

As integrated components in the NetWare environment, application servers and the solutions that run on them will be able to be managed and secured by NetWare Services such as NDS, ManageWise and the NWAdmin management utility. Users will be able to access the application services transparently, and administrators will be able to easily manage these heterogenous systems with synchronized directories and access to application server resources.

NetWare Services Licensing Program

As new NetWare Services become industry standards - just as NetWare file and print services are today - Novell will make them available in a portable fashion through a new NetWare Services Licensing Program.

The first NetWare Services that will become licensable include file, print, directory and transaction processing for both clients and servers. Over time, other services such as licensing, messaging, advanced file system, advanced security and advanced printing will be made available.

Novell is currently working with major system vendors to license NetWare Services to be a part of their distributed computing environments. Apple, IBM, Microsoft and others have the opportunity to license NetWare Services for use on their platforms as part of this program.

UNIX Partnerships

As the first example of Novell's commitment to integrating application servers into NetWare networks, Hewlett-Packard, SCO and Novell have announced a business relationship to deliver a high-volume UNIX operating system with integrated network and enterprise services. Novell will provide the critical network services essential for these UNIX systems to be integrated into the NetWare environment.

With the highest number of unit shipments and largest installed base of systems, UNIX systems are the most popular application servers in the world. There are tens of thousands of business applications available for UNIX, more than any other operating system. Hewlett-Packard, the largest enterprise UNIX system vendor, and SCO, the largest Intel UNIX provider, will help drive Novell's NetWare Services to become the standard for networking UNIX systems.

NetWare and DCE Interoperability. Another important part of Novell's UNIX strategy is to integrate Distributed Computing Environment (DCE) networks into the NetWare environment. Many large UNIX systems use DCE-based networks. Because many businesses also have NetWare networks, it is important to enable these two environments to interoperate.

Through joint DCE development work by Novell and Hewlett-Packard, Novell's customers who are already committed to NetWare and DCE throughout their businesses can tie their networks together. Novell will enhance NDS to make it compatible with DCE and will use DCE RPCs. Hewlett-Packard in turn will enhance its DCE technologies to enable DCE networks to use Novell's file, print, directory, security and distributed file system services.

Customers will benefit from common networking services providing improved security, access and manageability. Workgroups and departments that are deploying NetWare autonomously today can increase integration with corporate MIS organizations' UNIX systems and data centers, providing improved access to enterprise data and applications while reducing the management burden. Finally, workgroup and departmental access to enterprise data, applications and services will be improved dramatically for many NetWare users.

Net2000 on Application Servers

As part of the Net2000 strategy described below, Novell will make its networking services interfaces available on all major application server platforms: UNIX, Windows NT and OS/2. With these APIs available on all platforms, developers can safely integrate their applications with NetWare Services, making their solutions seamlessly integrated with the network.

This allows users to identify, access and use Net2000 solutions anytime, anyplace without knowing anything about where the solution is running or what type of platform it is on. This approach enables all major application servers to participate fully in the smart global network environment.

Net2000 Makes Using Distributed Applications Easier

Novell's vision of distributed computing encompasses the entire network. One of Novell's fundamental goals is to allow developers to easily create networked application components and have them seamlessly distributed everywhere.

To realize this goal, Novell understands that the current client-server paradigms are inadequate and that the barriers to network programming must be reduced significantly. The network infrastructure must become invisible to the application developer. In the near future Novell will provide interfaces, components and services that will support application components transparently distributed throughout the network. Net2000 is the first step toward this vision.

While Novell has historically been weak in its support for developers, Net2000 represents a clear turning point. Novell is committed to working with developers as equal partners in promoting an open vision of distributed computing, which will provide clear benefits to our mutual customers.

Figure 6: Net2000 distributed computing interface.

Net2000: Central to Novell's Vision of Distributed Computing

Net2000 is Novell's distributed computing interface to network services. The vision of Net2000 is to make network services easily accessible to commercial, corporate, consulting and content developers. This in turn will empower them to build applications that allow users to share information, communicate with each other, share devices and conduct electronic commerce in a secure, manageable and location-independent fashion. All Net2000-enabled applications become a part of the smart global network.

The Net2000 interface provides a single, extensible and integrated interface to all Novell network services. Net2000 interfaces will make it simple to build distributed applications by offering easier ways to define and register a service, provide common security policies (ACL, authentication), transparent communication (IPC) bindings, and management (configuration, setup, maintenance).

Net2000 is optimized for the distributed networking environment characterized by heterogeneous clients and servers, location independence and high performance. Applications and services that use Net2000 inherently become highly accessible, secure and manageable.

Software developers creating personal productivity, group productivity, line-of-business and Internet applications can all benefit from Net2000. Applications and services that take advantage of Net2000 will:

• Allow users to seamlessly access enterprise and Internet services through applications regardless of location and the underlying networking infrastructure. Net2000 will provide developers with consistent and integrated network interfaces. Once users learn to use one Net2000-based application or service, they can quickly learn others because of the integration of common services.

• Provide system administrators a global view of all applications written to Net2000 in a heterogeneous network. This will ensure that applications have a single point of administration and a coherent view of management, communications and security.

• Lower the barrier of building distributed applications, thus allowing developers to focus on the business problem at hand. Net2000 will provide one set of interfaces for all networking services on multiple platforms, thus allowing programmers to quickly and easily build solutions and have them distributed throughout the network.

• Preserve current IT investments. Because Net2000 is designed to work with a number of service providers and client-server architectures, applications using Net2000 will still work even as computing environments and information resources change.

• Provide tight security services that allow businesses to control how and when information is accessed and disseminated.

• Net2000 is supported by the NetWare and PerfectOffice family of products, giving all NetWare products a common look and feel and allowing them to be easily integrated into packaged solutions.

Net2000 Goals

To realize its vision of easy application access to network services, Novell has set several important goals and objectives for Net2000. These goals and objectives are outlined below. They are described in greater detail in the Net2000 White Paper.

Support for Multiple Programming Paradigms and Interfaces. Net2000 supports a variety of programming models including both object-based and procedural interfaces. Novell's approach to supporting interfaces is based on the needs of the platform and industry standards. For example, on Windows and Windows NT, Net2000 objects will be available in the form of OLE components. On other platforms Novell will expose its object interfaces through existing standards such as CORBA.

Support for Tools. By design, Net2000 will provide access to a wide variety of developer audiences. It will operate within popular 3GL C/C++ tools such as Visual C++ and Borland C++, and also virtually all 4GL tools such as Visual Basic, Delphi and Power Builder.

Support for Heterogenous Platforms. Net2000 is specifically designed to support a consistent set of interfaces across heterogenous client and server platforms such as Windows 95, Windows 3.1, Windows NT, OS/2, Macintosh, HP-UX and SCO Unix. Other platforms will follow based on customer demand.

Consistency and Ease of Use. Net2000 interfaces are designed for consistency and ease of use, thus the developer has to learn only one set of APIs to quickly access and use multiple network services. Net2000 integrates the interfaces of naming (NDS), security, management, communications, NAFS and NDPS.

For example, the security interfaces are tightly integrated with management, and naming interfaces are tightly coupled with communications. Net2000 interfaces for other services are based on these, ensuring a self-consistent suite of APIs and objects for all network functions.

Flexible and Extensible Architecture. Net2000 service abstractions are built on a generic service provider multiplexer (SPM). SPM supports multiple service providers and allows the system to grow or change based on business and customer requirements. For example, Net2000 can potentially support both RSA and Kerberos authentication systems.

Transport Independence. Novell believes network protocols should never be a barrier to deploying network services and applications. Net2000 will be inherently transport independent and will support many network protocols including SPX/IPX™ and TCP/IP.

Product Roadmap

To provide NetWare customers with a clear understanding of Novell's future plans for NetWare and network services, outlined below is Novell's three-year smart network services product roadmap. The product roadmap is designed to provide a balance between maintaining a consistent foundation and introducing new technologies and capabilities in a timely way.

Novell plans to release new services as part of an updated version of NetWare about every 18 months. This interval is designed to give the time necessary to plan a smooth transition and implementation of the new technologies.

Figure 7: Novell product roadmap.

Conclusion

Novell's strategy is centered on making it easier for people to conduct business in today's global marketplace by connecting them with the information they need anytime, anyplace. Novell is delivering this through three initiatives:

• Building smart global networks that identify users and their location when they log in and give them intelligent access to the information and resources they need to do their job effectively.

• Providing access to networks anytime and anyplace through such diverse devices as telephones, fax machines TVs, pagers, PDAs and PCs.

• Giving users, administrators and developers a single, logical view of complex networks that include a wide variety of heterogeneous systems and devices.

Through these initiatives, Novell will continue to lead the world in network computing. Customers needs have evolved from basic file and printer sharing to accessing information anytime, anyplace in a global economy. NetWare is evolving to meet those needs. Novell is prepared with the vision, strategy and technology to deliver the network platform and services that will enable the smart global network of tomorrow, today.

* Originally published in Novell AppNotes

---

Disclaimer

The origin of this information may be internal or external to Novell. While Novell makes all reasonable efforts to verify this information, Novell does not make explicit or implied claims to its validity.

• Feedback
• Print
  •  
  • Full
  • Simple
•  
• Request a Call
• Follow Us
  •  
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletter Subscription
  • RSS