Novell Inc. at its BrainShare 2003 conference in Salt Lake City this morning in a wide-ranging launch introduced enhancements and new services offerings across various product families.
The Provo, Utah, company continued to leverage its consulting services with a new services offering designed around its ZENworks management software.
The new Novell Resource Management package of services and software folds in personality migration software from Miramar Systems Inc., dubbed Desktop DNA, along with several Zenworks handheld, desktop and server management tools including ZENworks for Desktops, ZENworks for Servers and ZENworks for Handhelds.
The service and technology package is focused on helping IT to consolidate management of heterogeneous IT resources using directory-based identities and policies.
The mix of consulting, implementation and support services is intended to automate IT processes and gain more efficient use of IT assets to help maximize existing investments. It also leverages the IT resource planning expertise gained through Novells merger with Cambridge Technology Partners.
Novell further extended its ZENworks management line with data management capabilities in its Novell iFolder tool, which automates protection of user data. The tool works with multiple devices.
Novells Extend Director also brings Web-based self-service functions to ZENworks, allowing users to choose the resources they need and have them delivered without the help of a systems administrator.
In the security space, Novell formally took the wraps off a pair of new services that will provide single sign-on capabilities for a variety of Web sites.
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Novell made the new Liberty identity provider for Novell eDirectory, previously code-named Saturn, available today in an early release downloadable from its Web site. The identity provider, based on the Liberty Alliances version 1.1 specification, lets enterprises establish secure links among internal and external Web sites, including partner Web sites.
The new SAML extension for Novells iChain, due out in June, provides secured sharing of authentication and user attribute data among partners and suppliers across the Web. Based on the Secure Assertions Markup Language, it allows Internet-based transactions to be secured and provides more personalized services that work across several vendor offerings. The free download allows SAML-enabled services to be deployed without modifying existing infrastructure.
In other BrainShare news, Novell added new Linux and Apple Computer Corp. Macintosh client support in its GroupWise 6.5 collaboration software; released the source code for its Novell Nsure UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery and Integration) Server; debuted an open-source developer Web site; and formally announced its Novell NetWare 6.5 release, due out this summer.
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