Banyan Systems Inc, Westborough, Massachusetts is preparing to answer Novell Inc’s planned version of NetWare that includes directory services, PC Week reports. It is working on a new version of Vines that will extend its StreetTalk global directory with more advanced distributed computing features. The extensions are expected to provide the network operating system with software that has previously been associated with application-enabling tools and groupware packages, such as Lotus Development Corp’s Notes application. Now in alpha test, Vines 5.5 will reportedly include Banyan StreetTalk Directory Assistance Attributes, which will enable users to define objects – anything from manufacturing plants through office equipment to company vehicles – to which attributes can be assigned. One user told the trade weekly that the new feature will help solve a problem faced by many multinational companies – the inability to access information about remote sites easily. The redesigned StreetTalk has at its core a relational database, rather than the flat-file database that its predecessors – and Novell’s NetWare – use. Unlike previous versions of Vines, the directory in release 5.5 will be X500- and ISAM-compatible, enabling it to interoperate with other directories that comply with those standards.
