Novell New Partnerships Expand the Net's Most Secure Platform

• Partners help Novell address #1 technology concern: providing secure access to network resources, data and information across all networks
• Biometric Access Corporation, Entrust Technologies, Sonera SmartTrust Ltd., Systemneeds and VisionSphere join Novell's growing list of security partnerships
• Partner integration with eDirectory and NMAS helps customers protect sensitive information by enabling and enhancing strong authentication and authorization

Novell, Inc., the leading provider of Net services software, today announced new partnerships to address the #1 technology concern among its customers providing secure access to network resources, data and information across the Net. Biometric Access Corporation, Entrust Technologies, Inc., SmartTrust, Systemneeds and VisionSphere, industry leaders in network security, have joined Novell's growing list of security partnerships to deliver comprehensive security solutions to organizations of every size. These partner security solutions integrate with the industry's most deployed directory service, Novell® NDS® eDirectory, and Novell's flexible security framework, Novell Modular Authentication Services (NMAS), to protect sensitive information by guaranteeing access to authorized individuals only, allowing companies to make the transition to eBusiness simply, quickly and securely. These partnerships fortify Novell's position as the most secure platform on the market today for delivering Net services.

Companies daily face headlines about hacker attacks and network vulnerabilities involving well-known organizations. Novell's newest partnerships bring a host of leading-edge security technologies to Novell's Net services platform, already the industry's most secure, enabling customers to further enhance network security through the use of smart cards, digital certificates, tokens, biometrics and a variety of other authentication methods. The demand for these strong authentication technologies is growing rapidly among businesses in virtually every sector. Industry analyst firms, such as IDC, have indicated that the biometrics market alone could reach $1.8 billion by 2004.

"A recent report from Internet Security Advisor indicates that 60 to 80 percent of all computer-related crime is coming from internal sources; so organizations today are looking to implement stronger forms of authentication and authorization, while at the same time removing complexity and administrative overhead," said Paul Smart, vice president and general manager of Novell's Net Directory business. "Together with our partners, Novell's Net services software allows customers to define a consistent, company-wide security policy through eDirectory that lets them establish control over network access based on the strength and combination of authentication methods they want."

Novell's Net services software, combined with partner products, gives customers the ability to customize the security solution that best addresses their needs. Partnerships announced today include:

• Biometric Access Corporation (BAC), a recognized leader in the biometric industry, delivers its SecureTouch* Login Method for Novell's NMAS platform, a fingerprint authentication solution that provides enhanced security for eDirectory users across LANs, WANs or the Internet. BAC's cost-effective, easy-to-use SecureTouch products offer greater data protection via user identity verification. For more information, go to www.biometricaccess.com.
• Entrust Technologies, the leading global provider of Trust Relationship Management software and managed services, will allow organizations to use their Entrust digital certificates for authentication and identification to Novell's eDirectory and single sign-on to most Web, Windows* and legacy applications. Trust Relationship Management solutions from Entrust enable organizations to optimize their business relationships by providing the confidence and convenience to exchange information and conduct transactions over the Internet. For more information, please visit www.entrust.com.
• SmartTrust By combining SmartTrust's standards-based PKI technology with Novell's NMAS platform, users will be able to leverage their mobile phones as authentication devices in addition to smart cards and card readers. Offering an extremely convenient and secure means of using PKI, RSA cryptography is combined with standards-based interfaces to form a highly resilient solution. SmartTrust is a leading provider of comprehensive security and service management solutions for mobile e-services. For more information, go to www.smarttrust.com.
• Systemneeds, a global leader providing next-generation IT security solutions, has developed the WinSafe software series for Novell Modular Authentication Services. WinSafe enhances network security by offering user privacy via PKI, broad single sign-on capabilities, authentication using fingerprint biometrics, and powerful encryption and decryption.
• VisionSphere Technologies specializes in the development and marketing of biometric face recognition hardware/software solutions for secure access applications. Adding It's Me, VisionSphere's integrated face recognition product, to Novell's NMAS gives users an intuitive, true single sign-on authentication mechanism to secure confidential data. For more information, go to www.visionspheretech.com.

Previously announced NMAS security partnerships include ActivCard, Applied Biometrics, Arcot Systems, BioID, Cherry Corporation, Compaq, Identix Incorporated, RSA Security, SAFLINK, SecuGen and VASCO. For more information about these companies, their products and their integration with Novell's Net services software, go to www.novell.com/products/nmas/partners.

About Novell
Novell, Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVL), is the leading provider of Net services software that delivers services to secure and power all types of networks the Internet, intranets, and extranets; wired to wireless; corporate and public across leading operating systems. Novell's Net services software provides the foundation for one Net a single global network that supports new applications and forms of business. Worldwide channel, consulting, education and technical support programs, along with strategic alliances, combine Novell Net services software with third-party products and services to form complete Net solutions.

For information on Novell's complete range of products and services, contact Novell's Customer Response Center at (888) 321-4CRC (4272), or visit Novell's Web site at http://www.novell.com. Press may access Novell announcements and company information on the World Wide Web at http://www.novell.com/pressroom. In addition, detailed comparisons between Novell products and competitive offerings from other vendors are available on the Web at http://www.novell.com/competitive.

Novell and NDS are registered trademarks, and eDirectory and NMAS are trademarks of Novell, Inc. in the United States and other countries. *All third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.