NetWare

NetWare is a computer network operating system developed by Novell, Inc. It initially used cooperative multitasking to run various services on a personal computer, using the IPX network protocol. The final update release was version 6.5SP8 of May 2009; Netware is no longer on Novell's product list. NetWare 6.5SP8 General Support ended in 2010, with Extended Support until the end of 2015, and Self Support until the end of 2017. The replacement is Open Enterprise Server.

The original NetWare product in 1983, supported clients running both CP/M and MS-DOS, ran over a proprietary star network topology and was based on a Novell-built file server using the Motorola 68000 processor, but the company soon moved away from building its own hardware, and NetWare became hardware-independent, running on any suitable Intel-based IBM PC compatible system, and a wide range of network cards. From the beginning NetWare implemented a number of features inspired by mainframe and minicomputer systems that were not available in its competitors.