Dismissing protocol stacks for 80286 chips as cumbersome, Novell Inc has outlined its future plans the recently launched NetWare 386 operating system (CI No 1,172). Novell says that the 80386 environment will come to dominate where two or more protocol stacks are required. NetWare 386 v3.0, which will cost $8,000, will initially have the SPX/IX protocol stack; AppleTalk will be added in the first quarter of 1990: TCP/IP and Network File System in February 1990: and SNB Netbeui by the end of 1990. Novell also promises to announce an Open Systems Interconnection strategy for 386 NetWare in July; this announcement should also cover X400, although X25 facilities may be delayed for some time. File server mirroring will not be available in NetWare 386’s first release, probably arriving in early 1990; there is no news as to the availability of directory services, though there is a new shell available for encryption. The company says that future NetWare 386 releases will support more than the current 250 users, and provide for ISDN and distributed services. Novell also claims that NetWare 386 can be installed in about five minutes, without the need for additional software; and those who buy NetWare 286 between now and the 386 version’s release will receive the upgraded version when it is formally launched this summer. A number of hardware manufacturers have given public support for NetWare 386: Compaq Computer Corp has stated that the new operating system will allow users to get more out of 80386s, and consequently boost sales of its own 80386-based machines. Provo, Utah-based Novell claims that its NetWare operating system now has 100,000 European installations serving 1.2m users, in addition to around 1,000 software developers and value added resellers.
