Red Hat Selects Novell's eDirectory for Largest Linux eDirectory Deployment Worldwide

Novell, Inc., the leading provider of Net services software, today announced that Red Hat* has selected NDS® eDirectory and Novell's DirXML technology to provide the directory services infrastructure for Red Hat Network worldwide. Red Hat Network, announced earlier this week, is a secure Internet service for managing networks of Red Hat Linux* systems. The business and scalability requirements to support several million Red Hat Linux systems on the Internet as well as the ability to seamlessly integrate with existing production systems drove Red Hat's decision to deploy Novell's eDirectory and DirXML.

"Providing the management infrastructure for Red Hat Network is an excellent example of our stated goal to provide Net services software that secures and powers all types of networks across all leading operating systems," said Eric Schmidt, Chairman and CEO, Novell, Inc. "Novell's eDirectory was designed with exactly this sort of deployment in mind delivering large scale customized services over the Internet."

"The Internet is the future of operating platform development, deployment and management. Novell's eDirectory enables Red Hat to provide customers with individualized services over the Internet that improve the security and reliability of their Red Hat Linux systems while reducing the cost of systems management," said Michael Tiemann, CTO of Red Hat. "A scalable directory service is key because it provides the policy-based management that enables a large deployment of distributed systems to be managed efficiently."

Red Hat Network and Novell eDirectory Deployment
Novell's eDirectory will be used by Red Hat to provide customers with centralized management and authenticated access to services for deployment and management of distributed networks of Red Hat Linux systems over the Internet. eDirectory and DirXML provide an integrated framework for linking system preferences, administration policies and customer service entitlement into an easy to use Web application for system deployment and management. This provides the personalized experience for each customer and partner on Red Hat Network. Using DirXML to integrate customer information with the appropriate network services allowed Red Hat to realize substantial savings in time and money on development cycles.

DirXML is powerful new integration software from Novell that makes possible new solutions to accelerate a company's transformation to eBusiness. DirXML extends the capabilities of eDirectory, allowing companies for the first time to fully integrate business processes and existing applications across the enterprise. By combining state-of-the-art directory technologies with the common language of eBusiness, XML, DirXML powers secure cross-platform and cross-network information exchange. DirXML is platform independent and requires only eDirectory, Novell's cross-platform directory service.

For More Information
Red Hat Network is now available on a free trial basis for all Red Hat Linux 7 users. For more information, please visit www.redhat.com/network

DirXML is available immediately through Novell® Consulting and consulting partners. Pricing for DirXML includes the cost of eDirectory, which is $2 USD per user, and is structured based on individual customer requirements. Novell Consulting is available to help customers design and implement eBusiness solutions based on DirXML and eDirectory. Novell Consulting can be reached at 1-800-714-1700.

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