Novell helps customers integrate Windows 2000 securely into networks

Novell has announced new software that allows customers to integrate Windows 2000 efficiently and securely into their corporate networks.

Novell Account Management 2.1 is a robust enterprise management tool that gives businesses the power and flexibility to tie together their disparate operating systems into a single unified network. It offers businesses significant advantages, including the ability to simplify the administration of all network services and reduce high costs associated with managing users and groups across mixed NT, NetWare, Solaris, Linux, and now, Win2000 platforms.

Built on the industry`s most reliable, secure and scalable directory service, Novell eDirectory, Novell Account Management reconfirms Novell`s leadership in promoting interoperability on the Net, ensuring e-businesses can buy what they want and leverage what they have, a winning formula for building the best network to meet their needs.

As companies move to the Net, they face significant challenges opening their networks to customers, partners, and suppliers. This challenge is heightened by the fact that most companies have very heterogeneous networks, with mixed NetWare, Windows, Linux and Solaris platforms.

Novell Account Management is an ideal management solution for customers that need to integrate Windows 2000 with their existing network while still wanting the superior performance, security and scalability of Novell eDirectory. Because eDirectory runs natively on Windows 2000, customers with Windows 2000 in their environment are not forced to utilise Active Directory to manage users, groups and resources. Customers can depend on Novell`s proven award-winning directory service with nine years of real world implementation, rather than having to commit to a new Microsoft release.

According to Novell e-business solutions manager James Thomas, one of the strategic challenges for most companies is to integrate different directories into one cohesive infrastructure. "By utilising technologies like eDirectory and other Net services software, companies are now able to bridge the gap between Novell`s eDirectory and Microsoft`s Active Directory. Novell eDirectory allows different applications that are not very adaptable to now effectively co-exist under a single directory service. Companies are now able to more effectively manage and support these applications, saving them resources, time and money.

"Novell Account Management reduces the complexity of managing large diverse networks by helping to remove network incompatibilities that exist in most businesses today. This increases business efficiency and employee productivity and reduces network management costs for our customers, which is especially important in times of economic downturn," adds Thomas. "A large percentage of eDirectory deployments are running on Windows NT and 2000, as these customers realise significant advantages over using Active Directory as their main directory service. Studies show that a large percentage of Windows 2000 customers are putting off deployments of Active Directory; these customers can now use Novell Account Management and eDirectory as their enterprise directory and benefit from both better management and user security and from the ability to integrate with other platforms."

Leveraging the power of eDirectory, Novell Account Management helps businesses lay the foundation for e-business by putting their multiple directories in order, simplifying disparate networks, and allowing better management of processes between customers, employees and supply-chain partners. As Net infrastructure technology, eDirectory offers businesses many advantages, including reduced network administration and hardware costs, faster access to data and information, secure network access and superior fault tolerance. It supports all Internet standards and access protocols and has Internet-scalability to support deployments of virtually unlimited size.

"One of our clients had core corporate information scattered throughout many different databases and systems. They implemented a centralised directory service, leveraging Novell eDirectory, to bring all of this data and information into one place to create an authoritative source of directory information," explains Thomas. "Novell eDirectory lets them manage their Windows NT, Solaris and NetWare environments collectively. Furthermore, as they incorporate Windows 2000 into their network, Novell Account Management will help there too. This consolidated account management frees up resources across the entire company."

Novell Account Management provides end users with faster and more secure single sign-on access to Windows 2000 based systems and applications helping to enhance enterprise security. Single sign-on access to network resources helps reduce the most significant help desk cost, and simplifies the end user experience as they can now get one password access to data and information from wherever they connect to the corporate network.