Novell Inc is working with Sun Microsystems Inc on providing NDS directories for Sun’s ambitious and – still rather nebulous – Jini networked Java system, which is designed to make it simpler to build distributed systems by providing a way to label a range of software objects that represent machines connected to the network. But the networking company, which is counting on directories to remake its fortunes, is not confining its interest to Sun. It’s also talking to Microsoft about providing NDS for Microsoft Corp’s Jin-killer, dubbed Millennium project and to Lucent Technologies about providing directories to perform authentication and other tasks for the company’s Inferno distributed operating system. Chris Stone, SVP strategy and corporate development says Novell – now with Jini creator Bill Joy on its board – has forged its closest links with Sun and hopes that the combination of directory services and the distributed Java network will create a new API that developers to write to.
