Johannesburg, 29 May 2003
The next version of Novell`s NetWare software will offer customers a choice between a NetWare or Linux kernel, says Doug Knight, the US software vendor`s VP of network infrastructure products.
Knight was the keynote speaker at Novell`s BrainShare conference for networking professionals, which opened at the Sandton Convention Centre yesterday.
"Novell is opening up its market capabilities to a broader audience, offering two paths to customers. Enterprises that would never have consider NetWare but are considering Linux, may now choose NetWare."
IT consultancy Meta Group agrees that "creating NetWare functionality and performance on a Linux kernel might prove to be more attractive to a non-Novell customer". Meta believes this strategy may ensure a continued Novell presence in the application and operating system side of the enterprise, while frustrations with Microsoft`s licensing policies continue to help Novell.
Novell has for the past three years been driving its one Net vision, offering a set of enterprise solutions focused on security, identity management and services.
The company is placing much emphasis on Web services. "Last year we acquired Silverstream because of its strong development capabilities which bring us into the Web services arena," said Knight.
He said that one of the pillars of the oneNet strategy - the xteNd solution - enables companies to "warp their legacy or custom-built applications with standard Web services technology, avoiding vendor lock-in, which tends to be the strategy of some of our competitors".
Knight pointed to the fact that Novell recently earned a "promising" rating from IT consultancy Gartner, "due to its ability to provide leading products to its installed base". However, according to Gartner, "Novell needs to convince the rest of the market that it can create, market and support products that more easily integrate with non-Novell technology".
This is exactly what Novell is focusing on in the future version of its flagship NetWare software, NetWare 7.0, according to Knight. "We are offering alternative migration paths, and enhancing operability with other platforms, focusing on the open source cause and open standards."
Knight also pointed to some open source announcements made at Novell`s BrainShare conference in Salt Lake City last month: the launch of the Novell Forge Web site, a developer resource for the open source community; and the introduction of Certified Linux Engineer, a new certification to recognise "those IT professionals who have obtained a high level of understanding of how Novell technologies run on Linux".
Described by analysts as "a company in transition", Novell grew revenue in fiscal year 2002 to $1.13 billion compared to $1.05 billion in 2001, reducing the net loss to $0.68 per share from $0.82 per share in 2001.
Share