Novell eDirectory Too Good to Pass Up for Sun ONE Customers

Novell has scored a big win with an aggressive promotion around its market-leading directory software.

Coinciding with the recent release of Novell® eDirectory™ 8.7, the company began offering Sun ONE/iPlanet* Directory Server customers free licenses of eDirectory, to help them migrate to Novell's more stable and scalable directory service. For Novell, the uptake has exceeded all expectations: In just over one month, more than 1,500 competitive directory customers have signed up to take advantage of the offer.

"In our initial estimates, we expected to attract 40 to 50 customers over the life of this promotion," said Chris Stone, Novell vice chairman - Office of the CEO. "Instead, we've seen this phenomenal uptake - demonstrating that the industry at large recognizes Novell eDirectory and the secure identity management solutions it supports have no peer in the market.

"What's particularly interesting is that while we've had hundreds of Sun ONE customers take advantage of the offer, we've also had hundreds of Microsoft Active Directory* customers sign up - without even explicitly targeting them," Stone said. "Clearly, customers are tired of being locked into ineffective, proprietary technology. Novell's cross-platform approach - allowing businesses to leverage Windows*, NetWare®, Linux*, AIX* and Solaris* systems - has definitely struck a chord."

Directory services, which simplify the management of user identities and access rights, are rapidly becoming an essential part of today's complex networks. By deploying eDirectory, companies lay the foundation for Novell Nsure™ secure identity management solutions. These solutions, which are available from Novell and many of its partners, help organizations cost-effectively deliver real-time, role-based resources to a distributed workforce, partners and customers from any location, while keeping their systems secure.

Rider University, one of the top colleges academically in the United States, was quick to take advantage of Novell's eDirectory promotion, because the University saw in it a solution to its unique challenge of managing three very diverse user groups - students, faculty and administrative staff. Currently Rider University manages its faculty and staff population with eDirectory and its students using iPlanet Directory Server. "We intend to use Novell's software to simplify what has become a very complex network," said Timothy Fairlie, director of Network and Communication Services for Rider University in Lawrenceville, N.J. "Initially we plan to integrate our disparate directories and better manage the entire infrastructure through eDirectory. It's also likely that we'll migrate the student accounts to eDirectory, because of some of the inherent limitations in iPlanet, particularly around scalability."

Sun ONE/iPlanet Directory Server customers who want to take advantage of the benefits of eDirectory should visit www.microfocus.com/en-us/products/netiq-edirectory/overview. Novell eDirectory is the world's most deployed directory service with more than 734 million licenses worldwide.