Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

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

To: BP Ritchie who wrote (18938)	12/5/1997 9:15:00 PM
From: E_K_S	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 42771

Hi BP - Maybe this new strategy will help sales.....??? Beta of Moab is java, TCP/IP enabled -- Schmidt: new Netware hinges on IP 'naturally' December 5, 1997 2:32 AM EST VAR Business, December 01, 1997 By: Cassimir Medford One day after Eric Schmidt's keynote address at Comdex, Novell Inc. rolled out the first beta release of Moab, the company's TCP/IP- and Java-enabled networking platform. It was in an unusually candid Comdex post-keynote interview that Schmidt, chairman and chief executive of Novell, admitted that there has been some erosion in the company's VAR channel, but he challenged new resellers to get on board for Novell's rollout of new products. "We will be expanding the channels we reach and bringing new people on board who are excited by our new direction," he said, adding that the company will space its announcements of new products better than in the past, when they were bunched around Brainshare. Schmidt promised a series of technology announcements in the next six months that will support the company's Java and IP-based direction. He added that Novell's next version of NetWare, code-named Moab, will carry IP "naturally," and questioned the industry's focus on the client in what he called the "new face of computing." "The current model is not the right one. We need a different approach," he said. "We should move the complexity away from the client and into the network server. That's the only way to pull that off." In a major vote of confidence for Java, Schmidt said that Java will be key in determining what the network will look like in a couple of years. He said that 80 percent of new application development is being done at the client, but the real opportunity for Java programming will be at the server. He admitted that his company had taken its eye off the ball, but its new direction will reestablish Novell's leadership position. To support that, the company will introduce a series of products that will promote the use of digital personae, which will dramatically reduce the requirement for administrator or user intervention in the distribution of network resources. In his Novell-focused keynote, Schmidt promoted NDS, NetWare's directory structure, as the basis of a new kind of network computing-focus on user profiles rather than computers. "Our computers authenticate to other machines, not to you. The network should know you," he said. "We should customize apps based on digital personae. Your profile should be set up using built-in rules." The first beta release of Moab includes a Java Virtual Machine, a Java Software Developer's Kit and native TCP/IP support. VARs and developers can build, test and run their Java and Internet applications on Novell's network operating system. Copyright 1997 CMP Publications, Inc. ====================================================================== I dodn't know if this was the new marketing program you were looking for but it does mention the new Java Virtural Machine which may attract some new customer interest. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- On another issue - Joe's point to get in bed with MicroSoft was interesting but I can propose a better relationship. Both Cabletron and Novell should merge and become a subsidiary of Compaq. Both companies have large cash assets (no debt) and excellent engineering talent. Compaq's European management quick to take on new oportunities could create a new division called....Compaq Network services! The acquired assets of both Novell and Cabletron along with the great management of Compaq (and their recent acquasition of Tandem) would certainly IMO create an enterprise networking company that could compete with the best companies including HWP and IBM. With one big move, you have a stellar hardware manufacturer, software and service company with ties to the enterprise utilizing the tandem NT and/or Netware centrix model. Perhaps some visionary thinking could utilize some of these beaten down assets to again see another day where under the Compaq logo we could be on top again. For what it's worth, I have moved alot of my money into Sun Microsystems as I believe their management has a better grasp on growing their business. I am most intrigued with the embedded system software applications for JAVA and hope Novell can eventually play a role in it's development. EKS (still long on 1/3 of my original position but will buy more at $6 or lower and once Toolon resigns!)