Black Box 4/BlackBox.cdr/lan/olivet.arj/OLIVET.REL

Text File | 1992-07-10 | 6KB | 101 lines

 Olivetti and Novell Expand Relationship
 NetWare to be Supported Within Olivetti's Open Systems Architecture

MILAN, Italy -- June 11, 1992 -- Olivetti and Novell (NASDAQ:  NOVL) today
announced the signing of a Master Business Agreement (MBA) between the two
companies which expands the existing relationship in a number of areas,
including full support of Novell NetWare within the Olivetti Open System
Architecture (OSA) and joint marketing activities between Olivetti and
Novell.

The MBA will give full integration of NetWare into the OSA Distributed
computing Platform and OSA Profiles through licensing of NetWare for UNIX
and porting it to UNIX SVR4, Olivetti's main server environment.  IBIsys,
Olivetti's Integrated Business Information System, will be the first of
such OSA Application Profiles to be supported.  Full integration will also
be provided within the OSA Networks and System Management Application
Profile.

This agreement calls for extending the co-existence of Novell NetWare and
Microsoft LAN Manager in OSA by providing simultaneous access from a
client workstation to both NetWare and LAN Manager servers.

Olivetti began working with Novell in 1990 by participating in Novell's
Independent Manufacturer Support Program (IMSP) which ensures the
compatibility of Olivetti platforms in the NetWare environment.  The MBA
provides an extension of the IMSP program to include Novell's System Fault
Tolerant III technology on selected Olivetti server platforms, including
multiprocessor models.  Olivetti computer platforms will be fully
integrated with Novell's NetWare Management System.

Olivetti is joining Novell's Technical Support Alliance (TSA) to the
benefit of Olivetti's and Novell's joint customers.  TSA provides
multivendor service and support for network computing environments.  In
addition, Olivetti will undertake extensive pre- and post-sales training
for its worldwide sales and support personnel to support the distribution
of selected NetWare products directly through Olivetti sales channels.

Solutions based on NetWare will be offered via Olivetti's direct sales
force as well as its network of Systems Partners and PC Dealers, many of
which are already Novell qualified Systems Houses (the international
equivalent of Platinum resellers), or Novell Authorized resellers.  Novell
and Olivetti will jointly conduct local events, seminars and roadshows to
their respective channels as well as major customers.

Commenting on the agreement, Elserino Piol, chief operating officer of
Ing. C. Olivetti & C., S.p.A., said, "Today's announcement is a further
demonstration of Olivetti's commitment to Open Standards.  Novell enjoys
a position of leadership in the networking arena and it is therefore only
natural for Olivetti to offer its customers platforms and solutions based
on this environment.  Olivetti's goal is to stimulate the downswing trend
and work with Novell to support the movement of more an more applications
form large, expensive centralized systems to lower cost and more flexible
networked solutions."

Ray Noorda, president and chief executive officer of Novell, Inc. added,
"Our expanding relationship with Olivetti is the first of its kind with a
major European-based computer industry leader.  This partnership, and
Olivetti's role as a leading systems supplier, increases customer choices
for building open information systems solutions supported by Novell's
NetWare network systems software.  Meeting the needs of European customers
is important to Novell.  Sales outside the US are likely to exceed half of
total 1992 sales, and Europe is the primary reason."

Olivetti is offering one of the widest product ranges on the market today
in support of Novell NetWare.  In particular, the NetFRAME line of
dedicated network superservers, distributed by Olivetti worldwide,
provides high throughput, resilience and availability features ideal for
large and mission critical Novell networks.  The systems are supported
worldwide by Oliservice, Olivetti's post-sale support organization, which
includes Certified Novell Engineers (CNEs) both at headquarters and
subsidiary level.

The server line also comprises the LSX 5000 series, a general purpose line
of system servers in both mono- and multi-processor 1486 versions, which
will support NetWare for UNIX as well as native NetWare, in addition, to
the x480-xx line of PC servers, ideal for small-medium workgroups.
NetWare for UNIX will also be available on the high-and LSX 6500 line of
RISC-based servers.  In addition, Olivetti provides a range of network
workstations, in particular the i386sx-based M300 series, all fully
certified in the Novell environment, with built-in HW and SW security
features which render the workstation practically impenetrable to any
unauthorized access.

Olivetti is the leading European computer manufacturer providing worldwide
information technology systems.  A company at the leading edge of the
information technology field, Olivetti offers a wide range of products and
solutions based on standards and open systems, including personal and
minicomputers, local and wide area networks, specialized workstations,
office information systems, solutions.  In addition, Olivetti specializes
in distributed open system solutions for banking and financial
institutions, and large organizations, based, on Olivetti Open System
Architecture (OSA).

Novell, Inc. is an operating system software company and developer of
network services and specialized and general purpose operating system
software products, including NetWare and DR DOS.  Novell's NetWare network
computing products manage and control the sharing of services, data and
applications among computer workgroups, departmental networks and across
business-wide information systems.