Novell Inc is putting another element in place in its quest to move out from the local network into the enterprise-wide network. Next week it will launch the Novell Network Registry not a place for networks to take solemn vows but a user service designed to eliminate conflicts between names and addresses on NetWare internetworks. The company sees the service as a natural complement to NetWare 4.0 directory services – which have been based as far as possible on the X500 standard. Although not said to be X500-compliant, Novell Network Registry is ‘fully compatible’ with Novell products and those of partners throughout the network. The service will be administered by Novell. Meanwhile, reports that Novell is planning a multi-server version of its IPX software router in order to provide companies with a low-cost alternative to software routers are said by the company to be very misleading. Novell is working on a link state routing version of its network layer protocol, IPX, designed to take the protocol into the next state of router development. Products incorporating the technology will not be launched until towards the end of this year or maybe even next year: the NetWare Link Services Protocol is still very much a product under development, Novell says.
