>> Here is the Proxy << And here is something to help people when they make a decision about how to dispose of the Proxy:
=====================================================================
Deseret News Archives,
Sunday, March 23, 1997
New `Jedi' may bring the force to Novell
By Brooke Adams, Staff Writer
During the seven months that Novell Inc. searched for a new leader, some critics said the company
needed an ambitious, even ruthless, headstrong strategist with a tough outer skin and driving ego to
resurrect the company - in short, a Lord Darth Vader.
Last week, Novell announced it had found a Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi instead: Eric Schmidt, chief
technology officer of Sun Microsystems. He'll officially join Novell April 7.
Schmidt, 41, is among the Jedi masters at the top of the computer industry. He's considered a
brilliant technologist - even visionary when it comes to the Internet, regarded as a driving force
behind Sun's Java, an Internet programming language.
He also is well-liked. One analyst last week said that if ``Bill Gates were going to project as a nicer
person, he'd be more like Eric. He is one of the industry's smarter people and nicer people at the
same time, a rare combination.''
He takes over a company in an odd position: Novell is wildly profitable - it made $375 million last
quarter and has a billion dollars in the bank - and yet is regarded as sluggish and is struggling to
maintain its lead in networking against Microsoft Corp.'s Windows NT.
Novell has worked to repower its engines: it jettisoned the business applications group (mainly
WordPerfect), promising to focus like a laser on networking. It moved slowly to recognize its own
role in the Internet/intranet mania sweeping the inhabited part of the galaxy.
Now the question, according to Bob Lewin, an analyst at Data-quest, is whether Schmidt has ``the
fire and brimstone necessary to pull back on the stick and start gaining altitude with Novell's
presence in the marketplace.''
Schmidt, who spent 14 years in various capacities at Sun, including 10 years in management, says he
is up to the task and has more expertise as a leader than people give him credit.
It may be that the combination of Schmidt and Joe Marengi, who led Novell in the interim since
Robert Frankenberg resigned last August, may set up the ``good cop, bad cop'' leadership the
company needs.
Some critics thought Marengi possessed the Vaderesque persona the company needed and might be
tapped permanently for the CEO position.
``Joe was saying all the right things at the beginning, about how aggressive Novell would be,'' said
Bob Lewin, a director and senior analyst at Dataquest, a Gartner Group company. That initial
feistiness cooled, however, and ``the pulse that you got was not at the same temper of a Microsoft,
Net-scape or IBM/Lotus.''
Marengi recently denied he was ever in the running for the top job. His future role at Novell also
may be fluid.
In a telephone interview last week, Schmidt credited Marengi with playing a crucial role in his
decision to join Novell - while at the same time saying he hadn't worked out yet what role Marengi
would play in his regime.
Some Novell watchers - stock-holders and analysts alike - hope Schmidt cleans house in the
company's upper management. ``He'd be well-advised to bring in an executive team entirely loyal to
him,'' one analyst said.
Joe Antol, a Novell stockholder who's been a vocal critic of the company's management, is more
direct. He posted a message to Novell's senior management on his Web page last week praising
Schmidt's appointment and calling for even more ``radical change.''
``I'm taking this opportunity in a public forum to ask the (small number of) people that currently have
power at this company to really do some soul-searching and think about allowing other people to do
this job,'' Antol's message said. ``Abdicate the power.''
Novell has already lost about a dozen top managers in the past 18 months, including Mary Burnside,
an executive vice president who left last week.
Still, one of Schmidt's strengths extolled by analysts will be his ability to surround himself with the
best and brightest in the computer industry. So keep an eye on the revolving door at Novell.
But Novell apparently understands finding an able leader to rally behind is just a start and that it
needs help getting out of a life-threatening stall.
In a series of announcements wisely timed to coincide with BrainShare, Novell's annual conference
that begins Monday in Salt Lake City, the company unveiled two key deals with members of the
rebel alliance opposed to the Microsoft empire.
Novell and Netscape Communications Corp. said Friday they plan to form a privately held,
stand-alone company called Novonyx to develop products for corporate networks. The company
seeks to capitalize on the combination of Novell's networking strengths and Netscape's Internet
expertise.
On Monday, during the keynote speech at BrainShare, Novell will announce another strategic
alliance - an expanded partnership with Oracle Corp. to develop products.
It is likely these deals were in the hopper long before Schmidt's appointment was announced last
week, which suggests someone else already on the staff at Novell is capable of creative, strategic
thinking.
Schmidt also said last week he expects his relationship with Sun will lead to closer partnerships with
that company. Novell officials also say they even hold out hope that Microsoft can be convinced to
join the good side of the force that advocates openness. That's a good sign, one that signals the
force, may indeed, be with Novell.
c 1997 Deseret News Publishing Co.
=====================================================================
Joe Antol.... |
