Novell's NetWare 6.5 Delivers Critical Business Services with Top Platform

Novell NetWare 6.5 combines rock-solid platform with business services and development solutions that integrate with existing networks to increase productivity and reduce management costs Open source components, Web services, Virtual Office and business continuity capabilities on NetWare 6.5 give customers unprecedented access, security and flexibility with their network resources

SALT LAKE CITY (Novell BrainShare® 2003) - April 14, 2003 - Novell today introduced Novell® NetWare® 6.5, delivering advanced services for business on the industry's premier platform. NetWare 6.5 reduces management costs and complexity by protecting the network and its valuable data while providing sophisticated means to increase user productivity. NetWare 6.5 also includes open source and Web services technologies to support the integration and deployment of critical business applications.

A Novell Nterprise™ product due this summer, NetWare 6.5 provides business services that work with all types of networks, storage systems and client desktops. Customers continue to require high return on their past, present and future IT expenditures, and Novell continues to oblige with essential services running on the most secure and rock-solid services platform in the industry.

"With NetWare 6.5, Novell is providing services no other company can, on a supported foundation no other vendor can touch," said Jack Messman, Novell chairman and CEO. "NetWare 6.5 product enhancements increase productivity, expand customers' reach into the market and provide serious savings in management and hardware, while retaining the access, management, reliability and security of the award-winning NetWare 6. NetWare brings customers closer to one Net, where information is without boundaries, and each user has the right tools to do his or her job where and when it needs to be done."

Business Continuity
With NetWare 6.5, hardware and management costs are reduced as organizations are able to consolidate servers and systems into centralized, highly available storage-area networks (SANs). Business risks are minimized as customers have the ability to set up business continuance clusters with complete failover capability between distant sites. Novell DirXML® Starter Pack is included in NetWare 6.5, so customers can synchronize user information and reconcile directories in a mixed environment. In addition, cost savings of 5 to 10 percent of a customer's IT budget are achieved using Nterprise Branch Office™ to manage satellite offices.

Open Source
For customers looking to run open source technologies, the inclusion of Apache, MySQL*, Perl, PHP and Tomcat in NetWare 6.5 provides the best of the open source world integrated with Novell's industry-leading directory, security and management products. With NetWare 6.5, customers can confidently run thousands of open source solutions, fully supported and running on the industry's most scalable, reliable and secure platform.

Antonio Mastrolorito, team manager of Directory Services Applications at Lufthansa Systems, said, "NetWare 6.5 gives us the best of both worlds - a standards-based platform that supports open source technologies, as well as a reliable, scalable solution that is critical for a corporate environment. NetWare 6.5 combines a high-performance platform that requires few management resources with the support we are accustomed to from an industry-leading vendor."

Web Application Development
The J2EE* 1.3-certified Novell exteNd™ Application Server and development environment is included in NetWare 6.5 for organizations that require enterprise-class J2EE and Web services-based applications. The addition of the Novell exteNd Application Server allows all compatible J2EE applications to run on NetWare and also gives customers the ability to add secure Web services-based application development and secure identity management solutions with Novell exteNd and Novell Nsure™.

Virtual Office
NetWare 6.5's "Virtual Office" makes all of a user's needed business resources, including files, e mail, calendars and printers, available through a Web browser. Wherever they may be, with a browser and an Internet connection, employees can be as productive as they are when sitting in their offices. "Virtual teams" can easily be created by users in any location without the help of IT staff. They can easily organize projects and share information through enhanced, real-time collaboration via a browser with colleagues in any other location.

Mark Smith, consultant for Cap Gemini Ernst & Young working with Virgin Trains in the UK, said, "Our client IT budgets are fixed, so it's very important that we implement solutions that provide returns that outweigh their cost. NetWare 6.5 keeps business systems always available and secure, and it will allow us to increase services to users even as we consolidate servers and other pieces of the network. We will also be able to integrate cost-effective open source and Web services solutions into the existing business infrastructure."

Part of Novell Nterprise - a set of services that improve communication, simplify and automate network management, and allow workers to be productive regardless of location, device or platform - NetWare integrates with existing networks of all types as one Net, empowering new services and maximizing current technology investments. NetWare 6.5 is currently in open beta testing, and pricing and general availability will be announced at a later date. To obtain the beta version of Novell NetWare 6.5 and for more information, visit http://www.novell.com/netware.

About Novell
Novell, Inc. (Nasdaq: NOVL) delivers Software for the Open Enterprise™. With more than 50,000 customers in 43 countries, Novell helps customers manage, simplify, secure and integrate their technology environments by leveraging best-of-breed, open standards-based software. With over 20 years of experience, more than 5,000 employees, 5,000 partners and support centers around the world, Novell helps customers gain control over their IT operating environment while reducing cost. More information about Novell can be found at http://www.novell.com.

Novell, NetWare and DirXML are registered trademarks, BrainShare is a registered service mark, exteNd, Nsure, Nterprise and Nterprise Branch Office are trademarks, and Ngage is a service mark of Novell, Inc. in the United States and other countries. *All third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.