Novell is making it easier than ever before to transform limited, single-purpose applications and data sources into open Web services, and then share those services beyond the firewall to reach new customers, build more effective partnerships and give employees faster access to business resources. The company today announced the upcoming open beta release of Novell® exteNd™ 5, the latest version of Novell's Web application development suite, which features groundbreaking visual development tools that make creating Web services as easy as drag and drop.
"For Acer* EMEA, the Novell exteNd suite was the catalyst for turning the potential of Web services into real business value; and we're very excited about the improvements in version 5 that will make our development plans even easier," said Howard Cheung, CIO for Acer EMEA, the European, Middle East and African operations for one of the world's top-10 branded PC makers.
"With Novell's help, we went from a conceptual design to full deployment, beating our aggressive schedule times in the process," Cheung said. "Now our Web services application can take us in any of several different directions. Novell exteNd has more than met our current technology challenges, and has also positioned us to move quickly and flexibly in the future."
Novell exteNd 5 is also unique among Web services offerings because of its cross-platform support for a wide range of application servers - including WebSphere*, WebLogic*, Tomcat and Novell's own award-winning exteNd application server - and because of its integration with secure identity management technology.
"Novell's ability to help customers create standards-based Web services, deliver those services through a customized portal and then control access to them based on a user's identity is an approach that sets Novell apart," said Novell Senior Vice President David Litwack. "This combination of Novell exteNd Web application development and Novell Nsure™ secure identity management gives rise to the concept of secure Web services. Many vendors talk about balancing the power of Web services with the safety of security - but Novell actually has the tools to back it up."
What's New in Novell exteNd 5
This latest version of the exteNd suite introduces a revolutionary approach to building Web applications - an end-to-end visual environment that brings service-oriented application development to mainstream IT. With these visual development tools and drag-and-drop skills, application developers can transform legacy systems into Web services, orchestrate them into business processes and create interactive portals without writing a single line of code.
Novell exteNd 5 also features a new unified installer, so the entire suite can be installed in less than an hour - getting customers up and running quickly. With new support for the Linux operating system, in addition to NetWare™, Windows*, Solaris*, HP-UX* and AIX*, exteNd 5's platform support is unsurpassed. Further, the suite allows customers to take advantage of a host of industry standards, including XForms, which simplifies the process of creating Web pages and forms; JSR 168 specification, which allows Web portal components - called portlets - from different vendors to interoperate; and a XLDAP-based Web service connector to LDAP. Support for these and other open standards helps customers maximize their technology investments and avoid getting "locked in" to a particular vendor's product set.
"The release of Novell exteNd 5 will be a major milestone for Novell and a huge step forward in making Web services available to virtually any company, large or small," Litwack said. "Thanks to the simplicity of its visual development tools, enterprise developers who build business systems companies currently rely on can also build the next generation of Web applications. With a fast, cost-effective development cycle, businesses can quickly provide remote users, customers or partners with secure, Web-based access to the resources they need; integrate different business systems and move toward a more flexible, standards-based architecture; and create applications that transcend organizational boundaries."
Novell exteNd 5 is entering a beta preview period for select customers with the open beta release scheduled for early October. When available,the public betacan be downloaded at http://beta.novell.com. Pricing and general availability will be announced later this year.
Novell, Inc. (Nasdaq: NOVL) delivers Software for the Open Enterprise™. With more than 50,000 customers in 43 countries, Novell helps customers manage, simplify, secure and integrate their technology environments by leveraging best-of-breed, open standards-based software. With over 20 years of experience, more than 5,000 employees, 5,000 partners and support centers around the world, Novell helps customers gain control over their IT operating environment while reducing cost. More information about Novell can be found at http://www.novell.com.
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