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

To: Paul Fiondella who wrote (29241)	12/7/1999 9:00:00 AM
From: Spartex	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42771

Industry Leaders Publish Ground-breaking XML Standard for E-commerce and Directories PORTSMOUTH, N.H.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 7, 1999-- Bowstreet, IBM, Microsoft, Novell, Oracle and Sun-Netscape submit Directory Services Markup Language (DSML) 1.0 to industry standards bodies Bowstreet, the leader in mass customization of business-to-business e-commerce, today delivered a universal directory service language for the Internet to three key Internet standards bodies. This language, called Directory Services Markup Language (DSML), represents an e-commerce milestone and is supported by the collective efforts of IBM, Microsoft, Novell, Oracle, and the Sun-Netscape Alliance. By helping establish directories as the infrastructure for e-commerce applications, DSML enables easy sharing of valuable business data and processes within and across company boundaries. DSML will also accelerate the industry shift toward business-to-business applications built on Web services, modular units of software functionality located anywhere on the Internet. DSML and Web services will enable companies to develop dynamic e-commerce Web sites that can uniquely meet the needs of a company's customers and business partners. The DSML 1.0 specification submission enables different vendors' directory services to work together more easily by describing their contents - including data about people and computing resources - in the Internet's lingua franca for commerce, XML. Particularly convenient for e-commerce applications, XML is the emerging standard for business-to-business data interchange. Today's announcement keeps the working group's July 12 promise to reach consensus on a draft standard this year. "XML enables the application-level interoperability so necessary to global electronic commerce, so developers are embracing it whole-heartedly," said Jamie Lewis, CEO and research chair of The Burton Group. "Directories are an equally important part of the e-business infrastructure, and DSML gives developers a simple and convenient way of directory-enabling their XML-based applications, allowing them to leverage the information and power the directory provides. That's a win for developers and makes building directory-enabled applications easier." End users will also benefit from DSML as Web-based applications discover and act upon directory-resident data related to users' roles, preferences, affiliations and available computing resources. Standards bodies to consider DSML The six companies today turned over the DSML 1.0 specification draft to OASIS, the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards, a nonprofit, international consortium considered the world's leading independent organization for the standardization of XML applications in e-commerce. "DSML, as an extension of XML, is a vital building block of future Internet applications and will help make the directory key to all e-business applications," said Dave Shirk, vice president of product marketing, Novell, Inc. "With its DirXML and NDS eDirectory products, Novell is leading the industry in incorporating the DSML standard to vastly increase the value of directories and thus improving the e-commerce and e-business experiences." =============================== Patiently waiting for the Directory Dam to burst. The pressure is getting exceedingly high. GO!!

To: Paul Fiondella who wrote (29241)	12/7/1999 9:21:00 AM
From: Spartex	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42771

Dec 07, 1999 OUTLOOK 2000: Novell (12/7/99) Novell shares appreciated sharply to nearly $32 this summer, before settling back in recent months. And at a recent $21.50, the shares still look quite attractive. Simply put, Novell is a better company than it was at the end of last year. Eric Schmidt has given the company direction and has forced the company to become innovative, and thus more competitive. We think that these efforts will begin to bear tangible fruit over the next 12 months. The company has been active on the new product front. And though many assumed that the core NetWare product was growing long in the tooth, sales grew 17% in 1999. An upgrade, version 5.1 over the next month should boost sales further. We remain concerned with the way Novell's management team has failed to fully articulate the company?s story to the Street. Companies such as Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - news) and Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ:SUNW - news) have succeeded on this front, and have been duly rewarded. While Novell has established itself as a leader in the directory service market, investors have been trying to guess what each product, or investment will equate to in terms of revenue or earnings. In the company's defense, we think this is, to a degree, part of the ultimate plan. Novell has spent the last year setting up the infrastructure and developing the tools that it will need to grow the company at an accelerated pace in the years ahead. Wall Street expects earnings to grow 29% to $0.71 per share on average. Shares remain quite undervalued in relation to the multiples that other technology stocks are receiving in the market these days. Novell?s $895.4 million in cash and equivalents at year-end should help fund ongoing research and development efforts to stay ahead of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - news) . Additionally, Novell will likely make further investments as it has in companies like Red Hat (NASDAQ:RHAT - news) to further its reputation as a play on the future of the Internet. In turn, these efforts are just as likely as earnings to help Novell receive a multiple more in line with other, similar issues. Some have voiced concern that receivables are up. But as we pointed out, much of this is related to licensing agreements that are to be worked off in future quarters. In the first quarter receivables will be drawn down and the attention will then likely shift to NetWare 5.1. Novell won the Best of Comdex award earlier in the month for this product. This indicates to us that its reception will be warm and that the release will be a prelude to what is shaping up to be a strong year. Analyst: Glenn S. Curtis Updated on 12/7/99 with NOVL trading at $21.31 Recommended 11/16/98 at $14.38 fnews.yahoo.com