Telephony response to ALL and Jim Antol....
Robert, your issues need to get addressed. I cut your points into this response so everyone can follow.
<< latest industry publications,including TeleConnect, Computer Telephony Magazine, VAR Business, etc., and you will find that increasingly more and more vendors are betting the farm on Windows NT as the platform of choice be it a small platform or large.>>
True, many vendors invested in the hype around NT only to find that the NT API for telephony only covers the desktop, so developers had to do a lot of the internal work themselves. Worst, any of these products won't now work on the same system since each vendor develops their server componenets differently.
<<"In the Netware World some functionality is provided by the NLM. But
there is a huge difference between NT as an applications server and
Netware NLMs. NLMs are a "hack" tacked onto the top of a special
purpose (print and file share) network operating system. NLMS lack
protected memory, preemptive multitasking i.e. I'm sorry I can't take
your call right now, I'm busy spooling a big print job". >>
Netware is a C based operating system, NLM's are C based. So, NLM's interact with the core OS...result, they are very integrated to the OS and very fast/efficient. NLM can run in a protected memory domain (ring 3), all anyone needs to do is turn it on. BTW, Microsoft runs it's file and graphics systems in ring 0 (NON-PROTECTED MEMORY!). The "spooling print job" comment is just s..t.
<<"Netware is not a good choice as a platform for mission critical real-time applications, like phone calls".>>
Was this a quote that said that NT is? Ask anyone that manages NT next to NetWare and they'll tell you that NetWare is a much more stable platform. Also, NetWare is still the only platform that supports full server mirroring (so a complete server failure can have another system take over with zero down time)
<<"Cruiser Class Client/Server and true SMP architecture">>
Client server is just as applicable to either environment. SMP is not "true" to either or I should say ANY computing environment. Every SMP implimentation is unique and provides unique benefits, Novell focused on performance (requiring more work from the device driver developers), microsoft focused on supplying a generic implimentation at the cost of performance.
"Scalability"
I don't think that anyone who evaluates these systems side by side could say that NT scales better than IntranetWare. Novell provides better support of SMP, up to 32 CPUs (NT supports only 4). Novell provides a full x500 directory (NDS), while microsoft has admited that their Domain doesn't scale and is building a directory now.
"Preemptive Multitasking and Multi-Threading"
IntranetWare is Multitasking and multithreading. Preemption is a great technology for the desktop but who wants a Network/server OS thinking really hard about what to do next and how to do it. The Network/server OS provides fast I/O processing. You might have heard someone talk about how early they get their mail delivered but I challenge anyone to remember hearing how smart their mail carrier is.
"Redundancy and disaster recovery"
ANSWERED ABOVE (SFT III). NT doesn't even come close to IntranetWare's fault handling and redundancy.
"Erector set-type development platform"
IntranetWare has a Java VM shipping for it today, NT does not. NT has basic that just about anyone can program to. Well, IntranetWare HAS BASIC NOW TOO!!!
"Great administration, including the ability to remotely administor the box'
I think that the reference here is to the RAS dial in function that ship with NT. Well you can remotely administer IntranetWare remotely as well. Aconsole to do server tasks is included and with a shiva netport modem you can administer users, printers, volumes, ect. And, BTW you can do it on ANY remote PC. What microsoft doesn't bother to point out is that the remote PC they REQUIRE is an NT workstation with all of the server admin utilities loaded (p5, 32meg min., 2gig HD), not your normal "remote PC."
"Great development tools"
ANSWERED ABOVE (BASIC, JAVA)
"Big and growing array of building blocks like voice processing
cards, databases, messaging systems, etc.">>
IntranetWare has native versions of Oracle, Sybase, Informix, over a dozen PBX vendors with drivers, Messaging systems based on MAPI (microsoft's standard), MHS, and GroupWise (6.5 million users and growing), ect..
<< Very little is being said about Novell playing a big role in these booming markets. However, you cannot pick up a CTI based magazine without reading something about NT as the platform of choice.>>
OK You got me.,.. but you do have me, here now! Microsoft is good at marketing. So far though, I hope you see that a lot of what they say is just plain BS.
<<The reasons cited in quarterly reports of why these companies TSAPI based sales were not meeting expectations have included the high cost of implementation and support of TSAPI based systems.>>
I would challage that logic. This is a new implimentation of a exsisting technology. It seeks a broader market and open eyes that are not used to what the benefits are. It's organizations like yours that are tasked with helping the customer find the value to these solutions inside their organizations. That I admit has not been easy. We could do a better job and are working toward that.
<<Our business has been heavily focused on Netware since 1987. We are rapidly seeing that part of our business decline, with more and more of our customers wanting NT and NT based solutions.>>
Can I help you with this. I know of resellers in Colorado that faced these same forces. Your local Novell office can help. Please cotact me, we'll see what our resources can do to help reverse this trend as we have with others. Remeber, a customer wants the very best solution for his/her money even when they mention NT. It's both our jobs that the customer understands ALL of the issue including why they're asking for NT. If you don't help with this your competition could/might.
<< In order for Novell to succeed in the CTI market, they must not only get the large enterprises, but also the smaller markets as well. The small market is what built Novell>>
YES, YES....you are right on target. Go to novell.com and look under "new" and "news releases" for the annoucement on the new small business product code named Kayak...it's very, very cool, I know I've seen it. Your local Novell office has more in depth materials.
Thanks for all of your attention to this monster of a response. I guess that I just had too much coffee.
Best Regards,
Jon Freeman
Account Executive
Novell, Denver
303-220-4330 |
