Novell Extends Novell Directory Services to the Internet

Support for Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) Will Enable Users
to Access NDS Over the Internet

OREM, Utah -- April 22, 1996 -- Novell, Inc. today announced the extension
of its industry-standard Novell Directory Services (NDSR) to fully support
the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), an emerging directory
access standard for the Internet. For organizations using NDS, LDAP
support will enable LDAP-compliant browsers and applications to find and
use the resources contained in their Novell directory over Internet
connections. In addition, LDAP support will give developers greater
flexibility in creating applications that leverage NDS by enabling them to
write to the LDAP standard for directory access as well as to Novell's
directory APIs.

"Novell's support for LDAP is one more way we are making networks smarter,
by enabling people and applications to easily access the information and
intelligence stored in NDS over the Internet and intranets," said Vic
Langford, senior vice president of Novell's Internet/Intranet Services
Business Unit. "With more than 15 million users, NDS has the largest
acceptance and installed base of any directory service worldwide. As the
first major vendor to open its directory to the Internet, we are making it
easier for developers and users to leverage the NDS resources of that huge
installed base. Novell's commitment to directory interoperability and to
industry standards such as LDAP furthers our strategy to make NDS the
standard global directory for the Internet and intranets."

Benefits of LDAP Support in NDS

A proposed Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standard protocol, LDAP
is a "lighter" version of the X.500 Directory Access Protocol (DAP), which
was originally created for UNIX environments. LDAP was pioneered by the
University of Michigan, made possible in part through a grant provided by
the National Science Foundation. LDAP was developed for the DOS, Windows,
Macintosh and Unix platforms and runs over TCP/IP. It provides the base
functionality of DAP while easing the development and accessibility of
directories for intranets and the Internet. LDAP is emerging as the
standard protocol for directory access on the Internet, enabling any
LDAP-aware client application or browser to access any LDAP-compliant
directory, such as NDS.

"We're a large NetWare 4 customer and are excited that we will be able to
leverage our X.500 directory and NDS via LDAP-aware applications," says
Kitty Bridges, Director of Product Development and Deployment for the
University of Michigan's Information Technology Division. "The more
ubiquitous LDAP becomes, the more useful it is, both to U-M and other
Internet enterprises such as Novell."

NDS support for LDAP offers a number of benefits to users, organizations
and developers:

* Greater flexibility in developing applications that leverage NDS:
Developers can create applications that access and use NDS by supporting
LDAP or by using Novell's directory API set.

* Immediate increase in the number of NDS-aware applications: Existing
LDAP-compliant applications, such as E-mail address books and public key
security systems, will be able to automatically access NDS as their
directory.

* Ability to use any standard browser to access NDS: Through any LDAP-aware
browser, such as the Netscape Navigator (see corresponding Netscape LDAP
announcement), Internet users will be able to access, browse and query NDS
for names, e-mail addresses and other information.

* Availability of all NDS benefits to LDAP users: With LDAP support,
companies can use a single directory--NDS--to support multiple
applications and services. Network managers eliminate redundant directory
administration tasks and gain the powerful administration and management
features of NDS.

* Access to NDS using TPC/IP over the Internet: For the first time, users
on any platform can connect to NDS and access NDS information across
native IP connections.

* Improved developer access to NDS objects: Developers using Novell's
Net2000 APIs, including Net2000 Java class libraries, will be able to
store information in NDS and make it available over the Internet to users
with LDAP-compliant browsers.

"The emergence of LDAP as an Internet standard is significant because it
can enable both directory interoperability and directory-enabled
application development," said Jamie Lewis, president of The Burton Group.
"By supporting LDAP, Novell is opening NDS and extending it to support
interoperability on the Internet and intranets as well as LDAP
applications. That's good for Novell, good for its customers and good for
the industry."

"We are very pleased that Novell will support LDAP, which we believe is
emerging as the industry-standard for directory access over the Internet,"
said David Goodman, senior consultant at Lotus Development Corporation.
"With our continuing support for LDAP and X.500 in Lotus communications
products, Novell's support for LDAP in NDS means our products will now
interoperate more easily. With LDAP support, Novell gives us a window into
NDS. This is a win-win situation for Lotus and Novell customers."

Benefits of NDS

Novell's NDS is a distributed database that presents all network users and
resources as objects that can be located, viewed and managed from a
single, central location. NDS has become the de facto industry directory
standard by incorporating the key features required in a global directory
service:

* Based on the X.500 distributed directory standard to enable
  interoperability and industry support.
* Unlimited hierarchy to ease administration and correspond to
  any organizational and geographical structure.
* Scales from small networks to global enterprise environments
  to public data networks.
* Extensible to support new types of network resources and objects.
* Supports all popular desktop client platforms, including seamless
  integration and support for Windows 95 and Windows NT Workstation
  clients.

Since its initial release in 1993, Novell has extended NDS beyond other
directories by providing many advanced capabilities, including:

* Distributed management capabilities and GUI tools to ease
  administration of distributed networks.
* Enhanced security through RSA public/private key encryption, as
  well as customizable object-based access control lists (ACLs)
  to restrict access to information and resources.
* Integration with NetWare and the Novell GroupWise groupware
  solution to provide lower management costs through a single point
  of administration.
* Simplified, centralized management of users' desktop applications
  through the Novell Application LauncherR (NALR).
* More third-party application support than any other directory,
  enabling unified management of network resources.
* Simplified developer access to NDS advantages through the Net2000
  initiative, easing the creation of NDS- and network-aware applications.

"We use Novell Directory Services to provide security and access control
for our intranetworking offer, AT&T Netware Connect Service," said Tom
Evslin, vice president of AT&T WorldNet Service. "We believe the addition
of an LDAP interface to NDS along with browser support for LDAP will help
customers move more quickly to the open standards they want while
leveraging the investment they have in existing directories and
applications."

Availability

Novell demonstrated NDS support for LDAP at its BrainShare technical
conference in March and at the NetWorld+Interop tradeshow in early April.
Novell will make NDS support for LDAP generally available in the fall of
1996.

Novell, Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVL), is the world's leading networking software
provider. Novell software provides the infrastructure for a networked
world, enabling customers to connect with other people and the information
they need, anytime and anyplace. Novell partners with other technology and
market leaders to help customers make networks part of their everyday
lives.
 
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