Novell Inc will do a version of its Processor Independent NetWare network operating system for the PowerPC standard. Novell had previously announced that it was working with Apple Computer Inc to implement Processor Independent NetWare for the Peripheral Component Interconnect-based Power Macintoshes, which are due this summer. The question is how different the implementation for the Common Hardware Reference Platform will need to be, and whether the server will need to be running Mac OS to run NetWare alongside. The answer is mixed: Novell says that the Processor Independent NetWare was always designed to be completely independent of Mac OS, although it was moulded to the Macintosh input-output architecture. Since the Common Hardware Reference Platform incorporates that input-output stuff, there is no extra work to do. On the other hand, Novell is still unclear on how the server itself will be administered. Conventionally, most NetWare administration is not done at the server console itself, rather the system admininistrator uses a local network-attached client machine. But there are occasions when direct, hands-on console work is required. With Processor Independent NetWare on the Power Mac, the idea is that the server utilities will run under Mac OS. But what about the new PowerPC hardware standard? It appears that the Novell engineers have yet to decide how to implement these server administration functions on the new system: the simplest solution would be to require Mac OS running on the machine but the company may decide to develop its own minimalist screen-driving operating system or use one of the other PowerPC Reference Platform-compliant operating systems.
