Carlos,
I couldn't disagree with you more. It is the large fortune 1000 companies that have the most to lose by selecting an NT solution for the file/print enterprise. For those that truly understand the the difference in technologies between NT and NetWare and all the costs involved in the TCO (Total Cost of Operation) between them would completely dispute your opinion.
I work for a large vendor that out-sources many of the fortune 1000 companies in the world as well as several smaller sized companies. Our local group has a client (about 6,000 desktops) that has been working for almost 2 years trying to integrate NT as their enterprise solution. They haven't even made the big drive to get all their servers to NT and they are bumping into HUGE management issues!
Some costs this client has run into include: 1) the shier number of NT servers required to handle the load and maintain the Domain structure, 2) the complexity of administering a domain structure of the size they must reach (believe me the client and us have had genuine Microsoft Engineers actually on site to try to fine tune the design), 3) the down-time on the servers when even minor configuration changes need to be made on a server, 4) NT's limited file/print capabilities such as a limited login script variables and functionality, etc.
In one specific example whereby the client installed their first NT solution for about 3,000 remote clients with MS Exchange, the solution required - hold on to your hats - 12 High Performance Servers! We did a quick analysis and determined that this solution could have been handled by 5 NetWare servers.
Many of these TCO costs can be substantially reduced because of NDS, NetWare's far superior NOS (Network Operating System) maturity, and the integration of a total solution of products that are all tied into NDS (central point of administration and support). For anyone who knows the Information Technology industry, they know that capital costs are a drop in the bucket to TCO. And you can read any industry group (Gartner Group is a prime example of a respected group that has done a lot on TCO costs) analysis and quickly learn on the value of reducing TCO costs and how NT doesn't hold a candle to Novell in reducing these costs.
Therefore, your suggestion is exactly opposite to what would like be the best suggestion and likely will happen. Novell should continue to ensure that the majority of the fortune 1000 firms remain with Novell product line. Its the smaller/midsize shops that give NT its best shot at competing with NetWare. Why? Because the smaller the I.T. environment, less impact that TCO has. Since NT's limitations on TCO control would be of lower impact, Microsoft can hide their glaring problem of not addressing TCO.
The best world for an IT shop of any size is to take advantage of the benefits provided by both platforms! This is the recommendations that we provide our customers that ask us "Should I go NetWare or NT?". Setup a NetWare file/print infrastructure with the key being the NDS tree. Then deploy NT servers for application servers when they see a need for that. But make sure to integrate NT servers into NDS. These clients have made NDS the central point of administration and support for not only file, print, and application server access, but also Mainframe/AS400 access (NetWare for SAA), remote dial-in access (netware connect), messaging (groupwise), and software metering & distribution (NAL). With ZENWorks coming on-line soon, desktop management will put another large dent into TCO.
If you think Novell is going to easily give up on the large enterprise clients then you must be dreaming. Large enterprise organizations DO NOT flip off their current technology investment and jump onto the latest technology DeJure because industry trade press has fallen in love with the latest Pide Piper (in this case Microsoft). Factors like TCO and conversion costs mean something to them. Why do you think there are still large fortune 100 accounts out there that still use Banyan? Because it does the job and conversion costs are huge! It will take Microsoft a very long time and effort to begin putting a large dent into Novell's large account base - and their success level with be substantially hampered with their limited enterprise technology.
Anyone (including CIOs) that makes critical I.T. decisions because based on who is the Trade Press Darling won't have much of a job to keep in the first place.
Ahhhhh....
That feels better. Sorry Carlos for venting on you. Its just that I hear that kind of talk all the time and it couldn't be more wrong.
ToySoldier |
