InformationWeek

October 20, 1997

Management Gets Push

Novadigm's Radia delivers only info users need

ovadigm Inc. this week will release a product line designed to make it easier for IT administrators to distribute and manage client software, particularly over the Internet and intranets.

The Novadigm suite, called Radia, is based on push technology. But instead of sending information "one to many," the software can be tailored to individual users, says Albion Fitzgerald, CEO of Novadigm, in Mahwah, N.J.

For instance, Radia can detect what type of machine the end user has, how much memory is free, which versions of software are installed, and even the type of connection the user has to the network. Drawing on that information, if a user ordinarily connected directly to the network is dialing over a remote line, Radia will ask if the user would prefer to wait to download large files until reconnected directly.

"Customers change their environments and their needs, and senders change their content," Fitzgerald says. "Radia automatically adapts the two sides."

Radia breaks software, applications, and content into components, which are automatically managed in real time based on user needs, components already installed, limitations at the user's desktop or notebook, and user access policies. "Radia changes software distribution into content management," says Waverly Deutsch, an analyst at Forrester Research Inc. in Cambridge, Mass.

The product consists of four pieces. Radia Software Manager lets IT managers and Internet service providers publish-and authorize users to subscribe to-"self-maintaining" software packages. Radia Application Manager enables developers to create component-based applications. Radia Delivery Manager allows software vendors to deliver updated software either to users' desktops or to an intranet server. And Radia Content Manager lets content providers manage any type of document.

This idea of component management appeals to Alltel Information Services. The company, which now sends out 120 call-center reports to 10 locations daily, expects that number to increase to about 60 locations by the end of next year. But not all managers at every site need all 120 reports. Radia "will automatically compare files to see what actually needs to be updated," says Paul Syrvalin, LAN manager for the Dallas-based company, a unit of telephone company Alltel Corp. "With 120 files going to 60 sites, if one manager is really only concerned with one or two reports, you can see how much time that will save."

Network bandwidth will also be preserved, says Syrvalin. "This way, we won't have to flood the network," he says. "The more things I can keep off the network, the better."

Radia Software Manager will be available in December, starting at $15,000 for a server supporting 100 subscribers. Availability and pricing of the other components will be announc ed in December.

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