Let's do it right Ken >> Sun, IBM Give Major Boost To Novell, NDS <<
I mean just in case the MSFT folk reading this thread missed anything
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Friday, October 18, 1996
Sun, IBM Give Major Boost To Novell, NDS
By SHARON FISHER
Novell is hammering out deals with Sun and IBM to license Novell Directory Services (NDS) to run atop their Unix operating systems.
Along with similar deals already in place with Hewlett-Packard and the Santa Cruz Operation Inc., agreements with the two computer giants would create a critical mass of support for NDS. Moreover, they hold out the promise of giving IS managers a single directory technology to integrate most major computing platforms. Further, this would help solidify Novell's commanding lead over Microsoft in directory services and give a much-needed boost to the company's turnaround efforts.
"Thank you, God," said Walter Czerniak, director of computer and
telecommunications operations at Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, when informed of the potential deals. The university has been pleased with NDS to date, but the lack of broad platform support has been a deficiency, since the university's goal is to provide network access to all students and faculty with a single directory. "This could
help simplify matters a whole lot for us," he added.
Novell is in discussions with other Unix vendors, as well as some non-Unix vendors, and plans to announce licensing deals in "the next month or so," said Michael Simpson, director of marketing for NDS. Novell declined to name specific licensees.
A source close to the negotiations said, however, that a deal with Sun
Microsystems--often regarded as the leading Unix vendor--is in the works. Sun declined to comment.
IBM confirmed it is in negotiations to license Cross Platform services, the Novell OEM product that includes NDS, for its AIX-based RS/6000 systems.
If completed, the agreement with IBM is likely to be announced this fall, said Robert Henson, worldwide marketing manager of AIX for IBM's RS/6000 division in Austin, Texas. Pricing and availability have not been determined.
Despite the promise of such deals, Novell's work with the Unix community often has not borne fruit.
Its ill-fated Processor Independent NetWare (PIN) project was intended to provide full-blown NetWare on systems from Sun, HP, Digital Equipment and Apple Computer Inc. But, one by one, the vendors abandoned the effort, with some citing lack of responsiveness from Novell as the cause.
Novell's aborted SuperNOS project was intended to merge the best parts of NetWare and UnixWare into a single product. The company also embarked on a disastrous effort to unify the Unix market by purchasing Unix System Laboratories, which it later sold off at a significant loss.
Yet the pending deals with Sun and IBM, in addition to similar arrangements with second-tier Unix vendors, could position NDS to become the dominant directory in a largely open field.
Implementations of NDS are available or planned for Caldera Systems Inc.'s Linux, HP's HP-UX, SCO's OpenServer and SCO UnixWare, as well as Microsoft's Windows NT. This level of cross-platform support could propel Novell into a strong position on the Internet, where Unix remains potent and users connect with a vast array of systems.
Endorsements from Sun and IBM would complete a troika of top Unix vendors backing NDS.
In 1995, HP was first in Unix revenue with 18 percent, followed by Sun with 16.4 percent and IBM with 14.3 percent, according to International Data Corp., Framingham, Mass.
In unit volume, SCO was first last year with 35.3 percent, followed by AIX with 17.5 percent, Sun Solaris with 11.1 percent and HP with 9.6 percent, IDC said.
Thus, adding support for AIX and Sun's implementations of Unix to the mix could make NDS natively available on roughly three-quarters of the Unix servers being sold.
Availability on a multiplicity of platforms also would strengthen the NetWare-Unix coalition against Windows NT, said Scott Winkler, vice president of platforms and operating systems research at Gartner Group Inc.
Microsoft, which has promised its own directory service for years, downplayed the news. NT Server product manager Enzo Schiano insisted that what really matters is applications and contended that Novell has not empowered developers to exploit NDS.
When Microsoft ships its directory--the current schedule calls for delivery in 1998, roughly five years after Novell first shipped NDS--it will do a better job than Novell, he contended.
Analysts also said a deal with IBM would call into question the long-term viability of Distributed Computing Environment.
IBM offers a DCE-based product called Directory and Security Server. Supporting NDS would have "absolutely no impact" on DSS, said Bob Kalka, brand manager for distributed systems services in IBM's software solutions division.
AIX marketing manager Henson agreed. "Our support of DCE is still fundamentally strategic to AIX," he said.
Marcia A. Jacobs, Joy Russell and Tom Smith contributed to this story.
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There now, that's better.
Joe... |
