Operating System Interoperability
Rather than use the same network operating system on all servers, modern networks often work in multivendor environments, meaning that you might encounter more than one of the major network operating systems functioning on the same network. Although it is completely possible to use a single operating system for all the common network server tasks, in some situations, a more flexible approach is required.
To facilitate such environments, network operating system manufacturers build in features and services that enable their operating systems to coexist on networks with other vendors' operating systems.
The following sections take a brief look at how well some of the major network operating systems "play" with each other.