In furtherance of its belief that its technology can be the saviour of a hesitant handheld computer market, Novell Inc yesterday introduced NetWare Connect, a new remote communications system built on and integrated with NetWare that supports mobile and network users for both inbound and outbound communications. Instead of having individual products that support users dialling in from remote locations and network users requiring access out of the corporate network, NetWare Connect is designed to enable users to consolidate their core communications resources on a single, integrated and scalable system. NetWare Connect also provides a framework for developers creating networking services and applications that require high performance remote communications in a secure environment. Support provided for mobile us-ers includes both remote node and remote control capabilities for accessing corporate data, applications and services, so that, says Novell, Macintosh PowerBook users can dial in using Apple Computer Inc’s AppleTalk Remote Access software to connect and become nodes on the network as if they were local, able to exchange electronic mail, access files or perform other network activities. MS-DOS or Windows users can access similar network services via remote node with their standard NetWare client software. A number of remote control packages can also be used to dial in through NetWare Connect for access to the user’s desktop systems on the network, or access an application server such as NetWare Access Services or Citrix Systems Inc’s WinView for Networks. And NetWare Connect supports dial out for network users to access bulletin boards, service bureaux or remote host systems. Remote node, remote control and dial-out users share modems and lines, eliminating the need for multiple communication servers, and can also use dedicated desktop modems and phone lines. NetWare Connect is a NetWare Loadable Module and has access control on each line and port on the server for inbound and outbound connections. NetWare Connect comes in two-, eight- and 32-port configurations that can be added together. It runs under NetWare 3.x or 4.x either alongside other NetWare applications, or on a dedicated NetWare Runtime server. Out next month, it costs $600 for two ports, $2,200 for eight, 32 for $6,000. It replaces NetWare Asynchronous Communications Services.
