Novell Net Services Software Protects Businesses From Virus Attacks

Novell, Inc., the leading provider of Net services software, provides customers a strong line of defense against malicious computer viruses that will cost businesses billions of dollars in damage this year alone.

29 November 2000

  • Novell's ZENworks for Desktops and NDS eDirectory enable businesses to dramatically speed the delivery of critical anti-virus software to company workstations
  • Provides strong line of defense against virus attacks for companies like Capital Region Healthcare and PacifiCorp

Novell, Inc., the leading provider of Net services software, provides customers a strong line of defense against malicious computer viruses that will cost businesses billions of dollars in damage this year alone. Using Novell's ZENworks for Desktops and NDS® eDirectory, companies protect their networks from serious risk by eliminating the days or even weeks often required to install the latest anti-virus software updates across company workstations. Instead, those updates are distributed from a single location and installed immediately dramatically reducing the risk of damage caused by virus attacks while lowering administration costs.

According to Computer Economics, a California-based research company, computer virus attacks will account for more than $17 billion in damages by the end of the year 2000. Many companies are now using the software distribution capabilities of directory-based, cross-platform ZENworks for Desktops to stay ahead of those attacks. Using ZENworks for Desktops, anti-virus software as well as many other applications can be distributed quickly and cost effectively to every company workstation from a single location, thus eliminating the need for administrators to visit each workstation individually.

"With a limited IT staff, we rely heavily on ZENworks for Desktops, running on Novell® NetWare®, to respond quickly to the threat of viruses," said Gary Light, chief technology officer of Capital Region Healthcare, a network of hospitals, clinics, family health centers and nurses associations spread throughout New Hampshire. "The effects of viruses on our files financial, HR and patient records could be devastating. By updating our anti-virus software every month and as needed with ZENworks, we are confident that our resources remain secure. In addition, the time and cost savings afforded by ZENworks are phenomenal. By deploying ZENworks to distribute anti-virus updates to our 1,000 desktops, we save $7,500 and 150 hours of IT labor per update."

The benefits of ZENworks for Desktops and NDS eDirectory in the battle against damaging computer viruses extends to businesses in a variety of industries:

"With over a million domestic customers depending on us for electricity, we cannot afford any network downtime caused by viruses," said Clint Lundmark, network engineer at PacifiCorp, an energy services company serving 1.5 million customers in six Western states. "Running on the reliable platform of NetWare and NDS eDirectory, Novell's ZENworks for Desktops is a powerful tool for combating viruses quickly and effectively. During a recent virus scare, we realized that the version of our anti-virus software would not completely cure the virus, even with new definitions. Within the course of one day we pushed out a new version of anti-virus software with the latest virus updates to 6,000 desktops across our 105 different locations. This saved around 1,000 man-hours, if not more. We continue to use ZENworks for Desktops to push periodic definition updates. This saves us from the time-consuming task of installing updates on each machine individually. Where viruses are concerned, the speed and reliability offered by ZENworks are extremely important."

About ZENworks for Desktops
Bringing flexibility and simplicity to desktop management, ZENworks for Desktops is Net services software that reduces the cost of managing user workstations by nearly 50 percent (source: IDC). Built on NDS eDirectory, ZENworks for Desktops simplifies desktop management and securely extends networks by allowing administrators to centrally manage and personalize company desktops, including those of mobile users. With support for all Windows* desktops, including Windows 2000, ZENworks for Desktops accelerates a company's transformation to eBusiness by allowing automated software distribution, remote desktop management and self-healing capabilities for applications. Running on NetWare or Windows NT/2000 servers, ZENworks for Desktops frees IT staffs from time-consuming, repetitive maintenance tasks, allowing them to focus on more strategic technology challenges.

The cost savings that businesses realize by implementing ZENworks for Desktops can be even more dramatic when the software is combined with ZENworks for Servers. Together these products use Tiered Electronic Distribution (TED) to give businesses end-to-end software distribution for their entire network both desktops and servers allowing administrators to automatically deploy applications and patches from a central point to multiple servers at multiple sites and then to individual workstations.

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

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