LAS VEGAS -- Novell is untying its directory services from NetWare in a continuing drive to be an essential component of e-commerce.
In a COMDEX keynote address Tuesday, Novell president and chief executive officer Eric Schmidt reinforced a company objective to pursue computer networking with the Internet as its focus.Studies that show consumers will spend $1.3 trillion in the e-commerce arena by 2003 also suggest businesses will see $1.4 trillion in costs to do it.
Schmidt said Novell has the tools to bring greater efficiency to the Web. He used comedians Dana Carvey and Kevin Nealon of "Saturday Night Live" fame to point out the confusion on the Web with the duplicity of logins, passwords and user profiles. In one of several comedy sketches, Nealon played the part of a psychiatrist while Carvey, with his penchant for impersonations, skipped through a number of personalities to show what the Internet had done to his sense of identity.
Novell's directory tools are being designed to help individuals build a personal profile they can take with them on the Web that is selective about the information it gives out. Businesses can use NDS (Novell Directory Services) to make business communications and commerce on the Internet more efficient.
Schmidt announced the availability of NDS eDirectory and NDS Corporate Edition software, configuring the new NDS products to support NetWare, Windows NT and Solaris servers. Novell also plans to support the Linux operating system, Compaq Tru64 and Windows 2000 in the first half of 2000.
Novell's push to make NDS a cross-platform product is part of a partnership trend. "The era of exclusive contracts and the strange things we've been subjected to is over," Schmidt said. "Now it's about making the Net a personal solution for the billion people who are on it."