LANovation – the name under which Minnesota, Minneapolis-based Pearson Technical Software Inc does its business – is working on a version of its LAN Escort local area network software distribution package to simultaneously manage Windows NT and Windows95 plus Windows 3.1 and 3.11 desktops, besides distributing software across the network. LANovation, which runs under Windows95 across a Novell Inc NetWare network, stores snapshots of anything on an individual computer’s hard drive. The information can be used to rebuild a system that fails, as well as for trickier tasks like sniffing out whether users are tinkering with the software on their systems. The LANovation program also handles standard software distribution and update tasks, hooking into the NetWare Application Launcher. LAN Escort 4.0 is due to ship next quarter, superseding version 3.5, which has been out since March. Pearson has been in business since 1985: its proud boast being that, in 1993, vice president Al Gore called it a successful high-technology small business. Its Web site is http://www.lanovation.com
