will this be a microsoft killer or a wimp?
regards
THURSDAY AFTER HOURS: Not much happening after the close today, so we'll focus instead on a stock of note: Novell (NOVL 24 1/8 -9/16). Paul Dravis, noted analyst at NationsBanc Montgomery Securities, issued his Buy Rating on Novell today, after talking directly with CEO Eric Schmidt at the NetWorld+Interop tradeshow in Las Vegas. Mr. Dravis seems to feel that Novell is now in the "tail end of its turnaround efforts." By selling Novell Directory Services into the Novell installed base, Mr. Davis feels that the company will be able to generate a recurring revenue stream called "10 Zens" similar to the ZENworks (Zero Effort Networks) offering. Essentially this means selling new services and products directly to current customers. Microsoft's competitive product is Active Directory, not yet released, but which is expected later this year. Whether this becomes a competitive factor on the Netware platform, or a reason to migrate to Windows 2000 remains to be seen. Mr. Dravis stated that Mr. Schmidt told them that marketing is a key issue for Novell, and is one which Novell is addressing. Briefing.com still feels that Novell's biggest challenge is acquiring brand new customers. Strategies based upon selling into your installed base can be very profitable in the short run, but for long term sustained growth, acquistion of new customers is essential. We would still like to hear a "big-picture" story of how Novell will attract, and retain, big business customers who have never done business with Novell before. That's what is needed in the the long term view. But Wall Street focuses on the short term. Today's analysis by Mr. Dravis was very positive, especially from the short term viewpoint, and is being distributed to the network of institutional investors at this very moment.
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