A Link for All Operating Systems

The Executive Computer

A Link for All Operating Systems

By Peter H. Lewis
The New York Times

May 14, 1989

Novell Inc., which already holds a majority of the market for personal computer networking software, last week introduced a product that analysts said could continue its dominance into the 1990's.

Novell's new Netware 386, which will cost $7,995 when it becomes available in late summer, will support as many as 250 users with a performance two to three times as powerful as its existing product, the company said. It ''is truly a blow-away-the-competition type product,'' said David J. Perro of Dataquest, a market research concern in San Jose, Calif. ''The power in the PC network operating system software is going to rival many of the minicomputer systems.''

Netware 386 is the first network operating system to take advantage of the Intel 80386 and 80486 microprocessors, which are expected to emerge as the standard chips for business computers. It is also compatible with the existing Netware software that is used by most large companies, which means it provides a seamless upward path for growth. On a broader level, Netware 386 has the ability to tie together all the major operating systems used by businesses today: DOS, OS/2, Macintosh OS and (in conjunction with another product announced by Novell, called Portable Netware) Unix systems as well. When a new version of OS/2 written specifically for 80386 and 80486 computers becomes available, Netware 386 will be in position to handle easily the 32-bit code.

A worker using a PC or Macintosh would be able to communicate with computers over the International Business Machines Corporation's Systems Network Architecture, the Digital Equipment Corporation's Vax network or any other local area network without worrying about the esoteric protocols that have been roadblocks in previous network operating systems.

Users at any computer would be able to share programs; create, store and transfer data, and share printers, drives, modems and other network resources throughout an organization. ''As we move into the 1990's, the key words are going to be heterogeneous computing,'' said Mr. Perro of Dataquest. ''There will be lots of different types of computers and lots of different operating systems used in businesses.''

In other words, gone are the days when companies bought all their information systems from one computer maker, like I.B.M. or Digital Equipment, and strung everything from mainframe and minicomputers to desktop terminals together with that company's exclusive version of a network operating system. Another player leaving the stage is the centralized system of office computing, in which clusters of terminals were strung from a single mainframe or minicomputer, and all information flowed to and from that central source.

Instead, current office computing systems, like management systems, are becoming more decentralized. A worker at an ''intelligent work station'' - a powerful personal computer - may share data, applications, printers, modems and other resources on a local area network with other members of his or her work group, and that group may share data with another group on a different network in another department, and so forth.

The main hindrance to such decentralization is that each system has its own protocol, or language, and getting dissimilar systems to talk with one another can be a nightware.

Because Netware 386 handles multiple ''stacks'' of esoteric communications protocols, the user at a computer station can communicate with a variety of alien computers without knowing or caring which protocol they use. If one user is at a Macintosh, for example, the whole network would appear to be a Macintosh system. If a colleague at the next desk is using a PC running OS/2 with Presentation Manager, she would continue to think that the network revolved around her.

Netware's competition is no pushover, though. The battle for the fast-growing local area network, or LAN, market, which Dataquest expects to amount to $10 billion a year by 1992, is going to be fierce.

Lee Doyle, manager of local area network research for the International Data Corporation of Framingham, Mass., said he viewed the Novell product as a strong counterstrike against Microsoft's previously announced plans for its rival LAN Manager product, which has been endorsed by Novell's archrival 3COM, by I.B.M. and many smaller companies.

''Microsoft has positioned LAN Manager as the application development system for local area networks for the 1990's,'' Mr. Doyle noted. ''Now Netware 386 has its own applications development environment.'' Companies would chose one network operating system and would develop applications to run on it, he said. Companies that want to develop programs to run under Netware 386 will get access to Netware's source code, ''and you can't get more open than that,'' said Raymond J. Noorda, Novell's chairman, president and chief executive.

Programmers within a company also will be able to develop or customize applications for the network with relative ease. Netware 386 will include a ''developer's workbench,'' a suite of programming tools that includes 80386-specific compilers and debuggers and a new feature called Remote Procedure Call, which shields the programmer from the mayhem of conflicting communications codes used by differing computer systems.

The Novell announcement last week was strategically important. ''All of the corporate clients I deal with have at least one Novell network installed,'' Mr. Doyle of International Data said. The announcement of an upgraded product, especially one with such impressive performance and features, lets Novell capitalize on its solid installed base.

Beyond its performance, Netware 386 has other intriguing features. One is that system managers can add new clients and file servers ''on the fly,'' without having to shut down the network.

On most local area networks, adding a new client or tying in a new file server (a computer dedicated to managing files for a group of workers) requires shutting the network for some time. ''Sorry, we have to take the system down for a while,'' the technician says, ducking a barrage of curses and paper wads from the workers. Shutting the system down at night is a standard strategy, but even this can be a problem for companies that must do a lot of transactions after the regular work day. Add a new cluster of Macintosh users? Add a new 80486-based file server? With Netware 386 the system hums right along without interruption.