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Technology Stocks : How high will Microsoft fly? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Daniel Schuh who wrote (11565)	10/21/1998 9:55:00 AM
From: ToySoldier	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 74651

Sorry Robert, but here is another story relating to MSFT that you dont want to hear. So for Robert only - this posting is OFF-TOPIC.... (PS - MSFT is discussed in this article) NDS Ripe For Partnerships, Novell Exec Says By Kimberly Caisse Provo, Utah 10:53 AM EDT Tues., Oct. 20, 1998 .............. Novell Inc. pushed the envelop in the networking hardware industry on Monday by persuading Lucent Technologies Inc. to bundle its Novell Directory Services (NDS) software with Lucent's new data networking switches. But whether this agreement will entice more vendors to sign on remains to be seen. In the world of data networking gear, Lucent is a newcomer. The Murray Hill, N.J.-based company, whose name is easily recognized by phone carriers, service providers and ISPs, needs to quickly gain market share in the enterprise and small-to-midsize business segments to prove itself among entrenched players such as Cisco Systems Inc., 3Com Corp. and the Bay Networks division of Northern Telecom Ltd. Nevertheless, Novell is optimistic the deal will help spur demand for the switches Lucent unveiled on Monday as well as convince Lucent's data networking peers they need to sign up to support NDS. "We're in discussions with all of these folks, 3Com, Nortel, Cisco, etc.," said Chris Stone, senior vice president of strategy for Novell, Provo, Utah. "I think in the future you will see more relationships around this type of technology from us and them." Stone decline to provide more details. "They [Novell] have a window while NT 5.0 is still in beta, while people are trying to make a decision on directories, and if [customers] want a single server standard," said Chuck Phillips, financial analyst with Morgan Stanley Dean Whitter Inc., New York. "Having the mind share come back to positive" is good for Novell right now, he said. Starting with its Cajun P550 switch, Lucent will enable its Cajun switches to work with with NDS servers. Lucent plans to enhance the directory functions of NDS when it ships a policy server in mid-1999. Stone sees the Lucent agreement as a watershed event for NDS. "We're just sort of setting the stage," he said. "This [directory] you can actually see working. Have you been able to see that with Microsoft [Corp.] and Cisco? No." Cisco teamed with Microsoft in May 1997 to license Active Directory to work with Cisco's Internetwork Operating System (IOS) software. The first beta of the product, Cisco Networking Services for Active Directory, was slated to ship last quarter. "Our directory works," Stone said. "We're going to be always two to three years ahead of Microsoft, no matter what they do. With more relationships like we're doing with Lucent, and more and more customers buying into Novell's directory as the mechanism to tie their networks together, we're already where everyone else wants to be." More companies want directory services to help network managers prioritize and manage WAN traffic, according to analysts. Lucent makes a good first NDS partner because it "strategically is set up to manage most of the bandwidth traffic and work with all of the telcos in doing so through their switching technology," Stone said. Novell has demonstrated Cisco and Nortel Networks products working with NDS servers, and compared to those, it took less time to manage the Lucent switch with NDS, he said. Lee Copeland contributed to this story.