A small business version of Novell's Netware will be released in November in an effort to recapture the work-group level market for network operating systems.
This comes amid a major project refresh cycle prompted by the refocus on intranet technologies.
Senior vice-president and general manager of Novell's small business unit, Ed Bartos, said the new product would aim at companies with computer networks of less than 100 users and would be priced to compete with Microsoft's Windows NT Server 4.0, launched last week.
Mr Bartos said the small version of Intranetware, codenamed Kayak, would also feature a full version of electronic messaging suite GroupWise 5.0.
He said it would be a big attraction for computer networks where fewer than eight PCs were connected.
Mr Bartos said Novell claimed a penetration of about 23 per cent in this small network market compared to its worldwide estimate of market share of between 60 and 70 per cent for sites larger than eight PCs.