CA and Novell battle over MS
NetWare resellers are caught in the middle as titans tussle.
By Joseph C. Panettieri, ZDNN
It's a strained relationship that threatens to hamper NetWare resellers. Indeed, long-time partners Novell Inc. and Computer Associates International Inc. are on poor terms these days because of technical disagreements and CA's blossoming relationship with Microsoft Corp.
To wit, Novell has ended a strategic bundling agreement with CA in the small-business software market. As of last summer, NetWare For Small Business included CA's backup, fax and anti-virus software. But Novell changed course in September and delivered an upgraded bundle that includes software from Network Associates Inc. and Tobit Software-but not from CA.
"Technically, CA's products weren't up to snuff. Customers have been asking Novell for more capabilities than CA was offering," says Chris Stone, Novell's senior VP of strategy and corporate development.
But that's only part of the story. Sources say Novell is less than thrilled by CA's growing relationship with Microsoft. Most of Novell's concern centers on DS Migrate, a CA-developed tool that will help Novell Directory Services (NDS) customers migrate to Microsoft's forthcoming Active Directory.
"DS Migrate threatens Novell's crown jewel-NDS," says one Novell Platinum reseller who requested anonymity. "Novell is quite upset by CA's work on that tool."
How upset? In recent months, Novell has inked sweeping NDS partnerships with Cisco Systems Inc., Lucent Technologies Inc., Nortel Networks and CA's most bitter rival: Tivoli Systems Inc. Yet, at this point, Novell has no plans to seek out a similar deal with CA.
"We'll make [Tivoli] the preferred management environment for our directory," says Novell's Stone. "We have lots of relationships with CA, and we're always willing to work with CA. But working with Tivoli is a lot easier. They're more technically in tune with the directory. They get it."
As a result, resellers who are seeking tight integration between NDS and CA Unicenter are out of luck. And resellers who are migrating customers from NetWare for Small Business 4.11 to the new 4.2 release will be forced to learn how to install, manage and troubleshoot new backup, fax and antivirus programs.
A CA spokesman says the company has "lots of relationships with Novell," but has no comment about a possible NDS deal.
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