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Technology Stocks : Novell (NOVL) dirt cheap, good buy? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Scott C. Lemon who wrote (28255)	9/25/1999 2:46:00 AM
From: DJBEINO	Respond to of 42771

Novell Recruiting Elite VARs By Barbara Darrow & Darryl K. Taft Provo, Utah 2:40 PM EST Fri., Sept. 24, 1999 Novell Inc. is quietly preparing a plan that would let some of its best channel partners in on its new enterprise consulting business. Bill Wall, Novell's director of global field and channel marketing, confirmed that the company has started talking with partners,mostly Novell Platinum resellers,about a new initiative. Novell research shows 15 percent of its partners' gross revenue is service-related, but services generate a whopping 48 percent of their gross margins. "Resellers are following the margins into services," Wall said. Last spring, Novell angered some longtime resellers with plans to significantly grow its own consulting business to help Novell attack the enterprise market. VARs said they felt Novell would compete with them in enterprise accounts. Now, the company is exploring ways to subcontract work from its consulting group to trusted VARs and integrators. Novell Consulting would work on implementation planning, but partners would perform project management and actual implementation tasks, sources said. A group of about 100 VARs came to Provo last August to talk with Novell about the plan, said one Novell Platinum VAR. Currently, there are close to 60 Elite partners, and Novell Consulting already is working with some, hashing out terms and conditions along the way, said this VAR. But there is no new "tier" of resellers, Wall said. "PartnerNet has always had two levels,Gold and Platinum,and we will still have Gold and Platinum." Another VAR familiar with the plans said Novell now is "going the route of [Microsoft Consulting Services], which subcontracts to partners" and that is "a big deal" for Novell resellers. "[Novell Chief Executive Eric] Schmidt supported the buildup of Novell Consulting, but then realized that 70 percent to 80 percent of NetWare went through the channel so 'why aren't we treating the channel like employees?' " the VAR added. Novell, which in the midst of a huge Novell Directory Services push, "has done a lot of adding and building, and is still aggressively pursuing a strategy to bolster its consulting services, but they're trying not to step on the channel," the Platinum VAR said. "We're always happy when Novell gives us an opportunity to make more money," said John Williams, principal of SafeNet Inc., an Atlanta-based VAR. Many Microsoft resellers looked askance at Microsoft's booming Microsoft Consulting Service (MCS) group until it became clear the company was not treating it as a profit center and that integrator and reseller partners actually could gain work in the process. But there remain skeptics who eye MCS and Novell Consulting with suspicion. "Novell grew its own consulting business by hiring out of its Platinum resellers," said one Seattle-area Novell reseller. "I've heard three or four times that Novell would sub out work, but have not seen anything happen there." crn.com