Hi EKS...About Possible Acquisitions
>> Can you speculate as to what type of companies they might have in mind....say for $500-$700 million dollars?<<
I think they learned their lessons from the busted large acquisitions (e.g.; WP). I would think they probably talking about companies within the 50M-100M range. One outfit which comes to mind is Netvision. This is a company formed by ex-Novell employees and their work is mostly in cross platforms and their products have been getting good reviews. Recently, I read an article about MSFT acquisitions. They have 5 top people evaluating other companies for possible acquisition continually. This is also the way Sisco is doing it. I do believe that this is the way to go for Novell.
About slow implementation of Intranets
I think Kenneth got a point there. Whether this reflects on Q1 results, it is hard to say. We could also understand Marengi's remark to mean that the NOS is alive and well and hasn't died yet.
About Growth Rate
I do believe that they are targeting 20% annual growth in revenues for FY-97 and higher thereafter. From the way he is talking, I got a strong feeling that he will be given the CEO job. What does everyone think?.
Here is another nice article about Novell Border Products:
------------------------------
Network World
Novell Border Services to speed nets
By Christine Burns
01/20/97
Boston
Regardless of which operating systems you use, Novell, Inc. wants to
get between you and the rest of the world.
Novell is readying a package of Internet services that will run on stand-alone servers at the edge of corporate nets based on Windows NT, Unix or IntranetWare. The package promises to improve performance by off-loading Internet and, in future versions, other chores from application and file servers.
In a briefing last week, Novell President Joseph Marengi told Network
World that his firm will announce the Border Services bundle at BrainShare, Novell's annual technical conference to be held mid-March in Salt Lake City. The package will be generally available in May, he said.
In its first release, Border Services will comprise caching, proxy
services and firewall security. The caching capabilities provide quick and easy end-user access to common Web data without taxing WAN connections. The proxy and firewall services block the flow of unwanted information and control user access to and from the Internet.
Prebeta code for each of the technologies has been available via
Novell's Early Access program since mid-December. While sketchy on detail, Marengi said the underlying engine for Novell's Border Services includes the best features of the NetWare operating system, including Novell Directory Services for administration. According to an analyst briefed about the product, the engine is optimized
for speedy delivery of HTML documents.
Border Services can be used to establish virtual private networks that
support secure remote access or electronic commerce with trading partners via tunneling of traffic over public nets or the Internet.
Marengi said Novell will make several additions to the package in the
future, but declined to give any details.
Novell Chief Technology Officer Glenn Ricart, a Net pioneer who was
hired by Novell a year ago to steer the company's Internet efforts, was quick to note that Novell's Border Services can sit on servers at the edge of any Unix, Windows NT Server or IntranetWare intranet.
Marengi said Novell is looking to package Border Services with
hardware from vendors such as Dell Computer Corp. and Compaq Computer Corp. Industry observers said Marengi may be taking his lead from Sun
Microsystems, Inc., which has enjoyed great success with its Netra
specialized server line.
John Oltsik, a senior analyst at Forrester Research, Inc. in
Cambridge, Mass., said the move should give Novell an opening into new
accounts that do not have NetWare or IntranetWare and help to diversify its core business away from network operating system-centric products. 'This product will let Novell play in an area of security and management of the Internet that they are not in today, Oltsik said. 'Putting all of these point products together in a single product supported by the underlying directory is a smart move for them.'
**Comments** Even Olstik who said last summer that Novell revenues are going down from 1.5B to 1.0B by 1998 has some nice words to say about Novell. Do you detect a change in Mindshare?.
------------------------------
Regards
Salah
|
