The Univel joint venture with Unix System Laboratories Inc aside, Orem, Utah-based Novell Inc is consolidating its increasingly pivotal role in the latest round of industry realignments – as well as immersing itself deeper in the waters of object-oriented technology – by licensing its NetWare network operating system to a new raft of converts. Demonstrating just how important the hand of Novell is regarded these days, at a recent announcement in California, Hewlett-Packard Co chairman John Young and Novell chief executive Ray Noorda were on hand at the previewing of NetWare for Hewlett-Packard’s Precision Architecture RISC, which is claimed to be the first native implementation of the networking topology for RISC. Hewlett also announced that it will begin distributing NetWare. A week earlier, Marlborough, Massachusetts-based Stratus Computer Inc signed up for Portable NetWare, making it the first fault-tolerant system vendor to offer support. Stratus says it will integrate its full line of fault-tolerant symmetric multiprocessing computers and system software with NetWare to make the resources of its systems accessible to networked personal computer users. Stratus will implement Portable NetWare for its XA2000 and XA/R RISC Continuous Processing Systems and interface it to its Network Express data communications software, under both FTX Release 2 fault-tolerant Unix System V.4 and under its proprietary VOS – price and availability next year. Also in the US, Novell is reported to be planning to license key networking protocol technology to Steve Jobs’ NeXT Computer Inc for inclusion in version 3.0 of the object-oriented NeXTStep operating system environment due in the first quarter of 1992. Meanwhile, Computerworld believes that Novell is also planning, by the end of the year, to invest some $2m in Salt Lake City firm Serius Corp, which develops object-oriented software for the Apple Computer Inc Macintosh environment. Sun Microsystems Inc and IBM Corp are already NetWare enthusiasts, and AT&T Co and Data General Corp are believed to be next in line, with agreements just waiting to be formalised in ink.
