Following the licensing agreement between Bellevue, Washington-based Attachmate Inc and Novell Inc (CI No 2,161), Wokingham, Berkshire-based Attachmate Sales UK Ltd takes over all Novell’s 3270 desktop software and will continue to market it through the Novell reseller channel. Novell is passing the 3270 software to Attachmate in order to focus more on its core business. Attachmate also plans to develop NetWare Loadable Modules for Novell’s Systems Application Architecture-compliant NetWare for SAA host integration system, to provide tighter integration with the client-host intelligence of its high-end Extra! desktop products. Novell is also to assist Attachmate in implementing the latter’s ZIP!Office electronic mail and scheduling system – which provides cross-system diary and electronic mail integration with IBM’s mainframe-based Profs and OfficeVision/VM systems – as a NetWare Loadable Module on a NetWare server. The NetWare Loadable Module version of ZIP!Office is intended to integrate with NetWare Global MHS and support the most current level of Novell’s Message Handling System Applications Programming Interface, using the communications services of NetWare for SAA. Additionally, the two companies are to work together to develop new diary and scheduling services between NetWare Global MHS and IBM’s Profs and OfficeVision. In conjunction with these new services, the two will work together with the MHS Alliance to define and implement diary and scheduling application programming interfaces. These are intended to provide the foundation to enable the full array of office applications supplied by MHS partners to access enterprise-wide scheduling services in office programs such as Profs and OfficeVision. They will support both message-based and real-time diary operations, and will build on initiatives already under way within both companies. Currently there are no industry-standard programming interfaces available for such operations.
