Novell Inc last week moved to draw NetWare, Unix and TCP/IP environments closer together, with the launch of a new set of NetWare Loadable Modules that enable users to run NetWare services and applications over TCP/IP-based networks. NetWare/IP is designed to enable users to choose between IPX or IP as a preferred protocol, and is available for NetWare 3 and NetWare 4 networks. The company says that it has opted not to produce a version for NetWare 2, since this is typically used in small installations for which IP compatability is not an issue. Novell denies that this is the first move towards abandoning the IPX protocol, saying that in fact some users are moving from IP to IPX because of the huge address base for the latter. While the company says that the vast majority of NetWare applications can still be run using NetWare/IP, it adds a note of caution by saying any applications that communicate at the protocol level may encounter problems. However, it estimates that this represents under 10% of applications, and says that it has been talking to third-party applications developers about how they can modify their products. Initially, Novell is to sell the product separately from NetWare although it says that it has not ruled out bundling it in with the operating system at a later date. The company’s pricing structure is designed to match that of NetWare 4.0x: prices for it start at $500 for five users, and go up to $14,500 for 1,000 users.
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