Last week's release of NetWare 5.0 -- beating its Sept. 20 target date
by a week and a half -- "is not the end of something but the beginning of
a whole new set of things you can do on a directory-centric model,"
Novell CEO Eric Schmidt said during a morning speech. "We're
entering a market with a backdrop of extraordinary change."
Novell's strategy, honed since Schmidt took over the company a year
www8.zdnet.com:80/pcweek/news/0914/14enov.html
and a half ago, involves identifying and managing information for any
user connected anywhere along a network.
"The single most important issue for networks is identity," in the form of
information about users and business partners, said Schmidt. "The
mission is to integrate the Internet, intranet and extranet into one system.
The challenges are building a structure, finding a location for everything
and keeping it from destructing."
While Novell obviously sees its products, particularly NetWare, NDS
(Novell Directory Services) and its management tools, playing a critical
role, the strategy "is much broader than any single product," Schmidt
said.
The networking industry is in the midst of a second major wave,
according to Schmidt. The first wave was getting everyone connected;
the second deals with the relationships of the people that are connected.
"Everyone is affected by this, everyone has to solve the problem," added
Schmidt, who said the phenomenon is "bigger than TV."
To build off its strategy, Novell plans to roll out several products over
the next six to nine months that improve directory management and
scalability. Officials declined to provide further details.
At the CIO forum, Novell rolled out a handful of key partners in support
of its initiatives. Compaq Computer Corp. CEO Eckhard Pfeiffer and
Intel Corp. Vice President Pat Gelsinger were among the executives on
hand to pledge support for NetWare 5.0 and for working closely with
Novell on future products.
Microsoft Corp. was not part of the event, although the specter of the
software giant hung over the question and answer session following the
morning's presentations. Novell officials continued to soft-pedal their
competitive relationship with the Redmond, Wash., company, pledging
that NDS will interoperate fully with the forthcoming Active Directory in
Windows NT 5.0 --- whenever it ships.
Last week, Novell announced it would offer Microsoft's Internet
Explorer as an option for NetWare.
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