The Novell Collaborative Computing Environment framework will be modular, says Novell, giving the option to bundle components according to the desired end. The base services on which client components and offerings to be built will feature message store, message transport agent, communications and interoperability, workflow, document and image stores, database access and replication. The client components will provide base groupware functions that can be used individually or together. They will typically provide functions like electronic mail, dating, group scheduling and workflow. In both service and client components, third-party service component development and support will be encouraged, says Novell. Solutions are defined as end-user applications and interfaces that take advantage of both types of components to deliver collaborative processes to the user. Novell will provide several ‘out-of-the-box’ offerings, including an electronic messaging, document sharing and control applications and intelligent agents to perform collaborative computing tasks on behalf of users. The Environment will support Novell application development tools, as well as industry-standard application development languages like Visual Basic and C++. Other solutions will emerge in the form of GroupWare-enabled applications, says Novell. More details later.
