As part of the agreement, Yahoo! will include Novell eDirectory as the default directory server for the Corporate Yahoo! enterprise portal, replacing the iPlanet* Directory Server. In addition, Novell is integrating its Net services with Corporate Yahoo! and will deliver solutions built around both companies’ technologies to Novell customers and partners.
The Corporate Yahoo! enterprise portal solutions leverage Yahoo!’s leading reach in the workplace as well as our expertise in delivering a personalized and compelling portal experience that centralizes critical information for end users. With deployments to state governments and Global 2000 companies, Yahoo! is proving that custom enterprise portal solutions can be implemented rapidly and managed very easily, allowing organizations to quickly improve productivity and business-wide communications, said Jeff Mallet, Yahoo!’s president and chief operating officer. Yahoo!’s decision to include eDirectory as a core component in its Corporate Yahoo! solutions was based not only on the technical merits of Novell’s directory software, but also its tremendous adoption in the market and worldwide support infrastructure.
Enterprise portals are an increasingly important element in eBusiness strategies, providing organizations with the ability to customize their interaction with partners, suppliers, customers and employees. A Delphi Group survey points out that in 2001, 54 percent of businesses surveyed were planning to implement multiple portals to solve specific customer needs, up from 21 percent in 2000. Deploying Corporate Yahoo! solutions allow businesses to create employee, partner and consumer portals that aggregate and present corporate resources, corporate applications and Yahoo! content within a flexible interface. Adding the user identity management capabilities of eDirectory provides greater personalization and simplifies the challenge of managing identities, relationships and multiple portal solutions.
Executing on the Shared Vision
This announcement marks another significant step in delivering on Novell’s promise of one Net, as the lines between intranet, extranet and the Internet are blurred by this type of integrated solution. In January, Novell and Yahoo! announced an agreement to develop integration between eDirectory and Corporate Yahoo!. With that initial integration complete, the companies have extended their relationship with this new agreement. The merging of both companies’ strengths the eBusiness infrastructure of Novell and Yahoo!’s leadership in delivering enterprise portal solutions that help companies increase productivity, reduce costs and extend global business content to decision makers provides a proven solution for customers amid an otherwise fragmented portal market.
Yahoo!’s decision to include eDirectory as the in-the-box directory server for the Corporate Yahoo! portal solution underscores the value of eDirectory as the foundation for eBusiness solutions, said Stewart Nelson, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Novell. Combining this eBusiness infrastructure technology with the leading portal software, content and user interface on the Net today creates the industry’s most complete portal offering. Further, today’s announcement with Yahoo! is representative of the value eDirectory can bring to all leading portal platform providers.
Yahoo! will deliver eDirectory as part of the Corporate Yahoo! enterprise portal by the end of this year. Novell will be delivering portal solutions based on Corporate Yahoo! by the first calendar quarter of 2002.
SOURCE: COMPANY PRESS RELEASE
