Novell to buy Ximian, make Linux leap

Novell has announced its decision to buy open source software supplier Ximian, and to make Linux the driver of its "long-sputtering comeback", reports USA Today. Novell`s NetWare was once the software of choice around which companies built networks, and still ties together many big systems at major companies, but it has faced stiff competition in past years.

In the late 1990s, Novell lost the lead to Microsoft`s server products. Linux has also come on strong as the fastest-growing server software over the past two years. To combat this, Novell will blend NetWare with Ximian`s Linux-based desktop software for word processing, spreadsheets, calendars and e-mail, in much the same way as Microsoft bundles its Windows server software with its Office desktop suite.

Inter-Alliance has launched a call centre disaster recovery system, having been awarded the Interactive Intelligence disaster recovery (DR) licence. Interactive Intelligence is licensed to two agencies in SA for resale, and there are a number of installations around the country.

The system is claimed to be able to switch a system to the DR centre in a short period of time, providing business continuity.

SmartLine has released a new version of DeviceLock, a software tool that lets businesses and consumers restrict access to local devices running Windows NT, 2000, XP and Windows Server 2003.

"Preventing the introduction of inappropriate software and data is important when trying to secure and administer a company`s computer network. The traditional solution has been a physical lock on the floppy drive," the company says. "DeviceLock is a software-based solution that controls user access to floppy drives, other removable media, CD-ROM drives, tape devices or USB, FireWire, infrared, serial and parallel ports."