Oracle cuts NetWare support

Oracle is to dump its support for NetWare in a move which analysts say will kill off the operating system as a database platform.

Oracle last week unexpectedly announced it would withdraw all support for Novell's NetWare operating system from 31 December 2001, giving users just one year to migrate to other platforms.

Robin Bloor, CEO of Bloor Research, said it would be difficult for Novell to maintain Netware's role as a database platform without the support of Oracle.

"I believe that NT is a better database server than NetWare, and the market agrees. But for those who have NetWare, it is important to have support," Bloor said. "We'll see if they will now move over to Linux or NT."

Oracle will offer limited support, known as extended assistance support, for its products on NetWare for another three years. However, this was described as "worthless", as it does not cover bug fixes, certification or response time support.

"Without error correction support, the extended assistance support is meaningless," said one user.

Oracle recommended that "customers upgrade to other platforms as soon as possible", and touted its own Oracle 8i appliance, Linux, Sun Solaris and HP-Unix.

A Novell spokesman said the ending of support was Oracle's decision but that it was helping to find migration arrangements for its customers. "Our customers are unhappy and say that Oracle is wrong," she said.

The announcement comes as a blow for Novell so soon after announcing the release of its internet-based, open platform NetWare 6.

Gartner's Mike Silver has predicted that investments in Novell's products and services would only be viable up until 2004.