April 14, 1999
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Novell CEO: Businesses Have 'No Choice' But E-Commerce
Dow Jones Newswires
By Bob Sechler
HOUSTON, Texas (Dow Jones)--Novell Inc. (NOVL) Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said Wednesday that he expects all U.S. retailers to be selling products over the Internet by December.
"Last Christmas, in my vision, was the last time that any U.S. retailer will not have a Web site where you can buy something," Schmidt said.
He made his comments here in a speech at Compaq Computer Corp.'s (CPQ) Innovate Forum 99 conference Wednesday. The conference, designed for Compaq corporate customers, is devoted to showcasing Internet business strategies and solutions.
Novell is a provider of network-services software. About 1.5 million Compaq servers have Novell systems installed on them, Schmidt said.
He told several thousand Compaq customers in attendance that an Internet presence is essential for businesses today, echoing the conference's central theme.
"It's now become clear, even to the most skeptical people, that the Internet does in fact change everything," Schmidt said.
He also took the opportunity of his morning keynote address to tout his company's products. He demonstrated Novell's new Internet Caching System, among other products, which is designed to improve performance of large servers by taking over routine duties.
He also discussed the latest version of his company's NetWare network operating system. Version 5 is expected to surpass sales of all other versions "very soon," he said.
- Bob Sechler; 512-236-9637
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