World's First Novell Certified CD-ROM for NetWare 386

July 16, 1991 - Micro Design International, Inc. of Winter Park,

Florida, U.S.A., today announced Novell Certification of its CD-ROM

subsystem and SCSI Express storage solutions software for NetWare 386

fileservers. The first-of-its-kind interface offers CD-ROM technology on

NetWare 386 fileservers through native NetWare volumes. Finally, CD-ROM is

made available to an entire network with the assurance of Novell

certification and without the need for special drivers of mapping utilities

at workstations.

SCSI Express provides the transparent interface between NetWare and

CD-ROM drives through a standard NetWare disk driver. Users on the network

simply access CD-ROMs (such as Novell's Network Support Encylopedia or Ziff

Davis's Computer Select) as standard NetWare volumes. Unlike redirector

products, SCSI Express does not require the installation of CD-ROM

extensions or drivers for a workstation to access CD-ROM data. This

approach significantly reduces memory overhead on already over-crowded DOS

systems. It also allows OS/2 and other non-DOS workstations access to

network CD-ROMs. Because of its standard NetWare interface, SCSI Express

extends all of the usual NetWare volume benefits to CD-ROMs as well.

For example, NetWare's caching system offers SCSI Express CD-ROM a

significant performance advantage. "In a network environment, performance

is a serious issue," stated Robert Smith, Director of Engineering at Micro

Design. "Under a heavy network load, NetWare cache support and the ability

to process simultaneous requests is a requirement." As with all NetWare

volumes, NetWare caches file system information for the CD-ROM volume in

memory. This cache greatly improves the access time of file data and the

speed of database searches on a CD-ROM. NetWare trustee assignments are

also available to restrict access to sensitive data.

SCSI Express CD-ROM support is just one of MDI's many enterprising

storage solutions. Supported devices include the Micro Design LaserBank

600CD as well as a variety of other CD-ROM drives and CD-ROM autochangers.

The LaserBank 600CD provides access to both High Sierra and ISO 9660 CD-ROMs

and comes in several models that includes single, double, and quad-high

subsystems. The single drive LaserBank 600CD internal model is available

for $795; the subsystem, for $895. SCSI Express for NetWare 386 is $595.

For more information contact Micro Design International, 6985 University

Boulevard, Winter Park, FL 32792; 407-677-8333, 407-677-8359 FAX.

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