Novell Inc is jumping aboard the Internet bandwagon with version 5.0 of its LAN WorkPlace for Windows and MS-DOS TCP/IP communications package. With the new version, Novell is bundling the Netscape Navigator World Wide Web Internet browser from Mountain View, California-based Netscape Communications Corp, and the company is about to announce a pan-European deal with Internet service provider EUNet, through which the latter will offer its Internet access services packaged with WorkPlace. Other new features of version 5 include increased multi-systems connection options via TCP/IP, and improved support for remote users. As regards the Internet access, Simon Palmer, product manager for Novell’s Advanced Applications and Access group, said What we’re trying to do is provide a multiple layer system for corporate institutions and bodies for getting access to the Internet. To this end, the company has implemented a three-tier approach. The first of these tiers – a new Windows Mailer – is designed to provide the in terface for sending and receiving messages and files over TCP/IP networks. It supports the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol and the Post Office Protocol version 3, says Novell. Tier 2 is for users needing to browse the Internet as well as send and receive electronic mail, which is where the Netscape browser comes in, and the third stage is aimed at companies wanting to establish a presence on the World Wide Web, where LAN Workplace’s cross-system communications is designed to enable Windows users to develop Web sites via Unix. As regards the yet-to-be-announced deal with EUNet, details are thin on the ground, but Palmer said that it is not necessarily exclusive, and that we wouldn’t necessarily rule other Internet service providers out. Among the cross-system communications enhancements, the product now enables users to run X Window-based applications on remote hosts (over IP- or Internet Packet Exchange-based networks) from their desktop, while the Windows Line Printer Daemon and Line Printer Remote print drivers are now both supported, enabling Windows and Unix users to share printers on either type of network. The company has now also made the product WinSock-compliant, while TN3270 terminal emulation and improved Telnet-based terminal emulation have also been included. Finally, an integrated Windows Dialler is intended to provide remote users with on-demand dial-in, using the Point to Point Protocol, or the Serial Line Internet Protocol. WorkPlace 5 is shipping now, at prices ranging from ú270 for one user, up to ú8,620 for 100 users.
