nelsonb@byuvax.bitnet (02/24/88)
Novell has announced a statement of direction we call Open Protocol Technology, or OPT. Simply put, it means that we will support all major workstation protocols, allowing for the full services of the operating system available to users in their "native workstation environment". The first of supported protocols will be Apple's AFP, giving Mac users the full services of NetWare, Novell's operating system. Coming down the road are Sun's NFS and IBM's ECF. The concept is that in addition to supporting a wide variety of workstation protocols, NetWare will also support different environments, such as TCI/IP. The operating system remains virtually the same, but there will be support in the form of protocol mapping from the native workstation (AFP, for example) to our own. This means that Macs can "soon" link up to a NetWare server and iinteract just the same as if they were on AppleShare, only with much more performance and functionality. By adopting Apple's own standard, AFP, we allow ourselves the flexibility of being compatible with new vendor releases as they also adopt that standard. We don't have to come out with new versions of our product each time the system, finder or AppleShare change. Also, as Apple, DEC, or whoever announce new gateways or other connectivity solutions, they will automatically run on our server. On the other hand, by maintaining control over file service/print service at the OS level, we can continue to optimize for speed and performance, a major factor in Novell's success. At this point, I'd better not say toomuch more, but for tthose who know NetWare and know AFP, you can pretty much construct what the resulting product will do. With the recent announcements related to DEC connectivity, and the APPC support, not to mention future suppport announcements, Mac fiends like me will have the world at their fingertips. In the meanwhile, a clunky solution might be TOPS using a PC as a bridge. They are not fully AFP conformant, but can probably handle most file transfers adequately. Bruce Nelson, Product Manager, Macintosh Connectivity Novell (801) 379-5692 NELSONB@BYUVAX