NETWORKING market leader Novell last week launched its next generation operating system, NetWare 4.0, with the promise of improved security and seamless interconnects over global-wide area networks.
The company embarked on a special promotional campaign in Hongkong, offering cheap upgrades to NetWare 4.0 until the end of April in an attempt to entice current NetWare 3.11 to the new platform.
Novell, which claims it ''owns'' more than 75 per cent of the network operating system in Hongkong, said the product's new Netware Directory Services (NDS) allowed for seamless global access to company resources across the globe, regardless of time, distance, location or network diversity.
Novell's Asia regional director, Mr Andrew Lai, said NetWare 4.0 - in particular its more robust security and network auditing tools - would accelerate the general industry move toward networks.
''[Novell] 4.0 addresses all these issues where people have had concern in the past about not using their local area networks for mission-critical applications,'' Mr Lai said.
He said the product was targeted, initially, ''at companies that have multiple sites and multiple servers''.