Novell Inc is pushing ahead with its plans to integrate NetWare and UnixWare, according to Unix System Group vice-president of marketing Bob Davis speaking at Unix Expo last week. One in three of all NetWare sites will have Unix attached by next year, he said, positioning Unix and NetWare as a matched pair: NetWare for networking services and UnixWare as an applications engine. Interconnection between the two environments had already been solved, said Davis. The next steps are to integrate services such as the global directory and messaging, and establish common network management between the two. By the middle of next year, he said, Novell will be offering NetWare for Unix as source code embedded within UnixWare, giving access to NetWare directory services from within Unix. Mapping between the NetWare directory services database and Unix will also appear then, the goal being seamless interaction with the Unix/NetWare network from a single console, said Davis. An integrated network management umbrella for both environments, including software licence management and software distribution will also be included. AppWare will provide a common set of application programming interfaces for software development. Novell was demonstrating an early version of UnixWare with symmetrical multi-processing support at Unix Expo, and this is also expected to be out by mid-1994. Davis said that from next quarter, Novell would be providing complete ready-to-ship product source code identical to its own UnixWare product, meaning that OEM customers would no longer have to polish off Unix source into production-ready code, said Davis. This of course only applies to Unix on Intel Corp iAPX-86, where Novell’s ambitions to ship Unix in volume are focused. Companies such as Compaq Computer Corp, ICL Plc, NEC Corp, Ing C Olivetti & Co SpA, Sequent Computer Systems Inc, Toshiba Corp, Unisys Corp and Wyse Technology Inc are among the UnixWare supporters club. For other architectures, Novell says it will work with the industry to provide reference systems for of UnixWare. NetWare 5.0 is being tipped to be the vehicle for the NetWare and UnixWare convergence.Novell says it plans a major announcement in Dallas on Monday October 4 which will enhance customers’ ability to manage and protect data; it will focus on network and system management.
