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

To: ToySoldier who wrote (24006)	10/21/1998 11:04:00 PM
From: DJBEINO	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42771

The DEC98 15.0 calls(symbol:NKQLC) traded 1553 contracts with OI 315. one order traded 1510 contracts @7/16

To: ToySoldier who wrote (24006)	10/22/1998 8:24:00 AM
From: Edward F. Horst Jr.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42771

Lucent CEO was just on CNBC and was "very impressive" when discussing their gains in market share from aggressive initiatives to provide better solutions to users. The Novell relationship seems indicative of how Lucent is seeking to provide leadership in the market. I wouldn't want to be competing with him with a weaker alternative solution. WOW!

To: ToySoldier who wrote (24006)	10/24/1998 4:16:00 AM
From: Peter Connolly	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42771

Hi Toy Migrating to NT, eh? I'll believe it it when I see it. I worked for Dell for 7 months, finally got out due to the fact that a) I'm a software person and hardware is too dull. b) I was getting tired of pushing NT as a solution (that didn't work in most cases) when the company itself logged into a Novell 4.11 SFT mirrored pair every morning. One of the problems that Dell had was growth in the user base. They tried NT but it didn't scale. (REPEAT, NT DOESN'T SCALE). It took me almost 3 months to get a domain login account, and when they finally got that sorted, two people appeared at my desk to make sure it worked, for half an hour! How expensive was that! I explained about NDS, TCO, ROI - nobody listened. The gods has decided that NT was the way to go so keep your mouth shut... The big advantage of NT is that it takes a lot of hardware to keep running. I've done it myself (I'm sad to say) - "You'll need a Quad Xeon, PII server with 4Gb of memory, 100Gb of disk space and a damned quick backup solution to run this application" and that was the desktop environment! (joking, but not by much) Dell needs to shift hardware, if you start to talk about how 'lean' an OS is, the sales guys and the pre-sales technical guys would lose interest - they're not going to ship something that requires less RAM, disk and processor, the profit just isn't there. Dell have their problem internally. As one of the support staff said to me before I left, "We're swapping one set of problems (NetWare) for a worse set (NT)", but nobody had been trained how to troubleshoot NT properly. The usual answer was to scrap the disk, re-install NT then reinstall the application in question (proxy, web server..whatever). This has happenned, I spoke to an IS guy in Dell about the internet, plus all the proxies etc involved - how did they insure that people didn't get to porn sites etc (I'm a BorderManager fan) - Answer - they didn't. The MS proxy went wrong and no-one could fix it so they turned it off and put the server on a shelf to be forgotten. How much did that cost? Who knows, as long as you don't record staff costs (which they didn't) and only look at the bottom line, it looks good. Apologies to anyone on this thread that works for Dell/Used to know me/Doesn't like my style of thinking but Dell's IT systems are seriously screwed up, and getting worse. If you want to know how good NT server is, ask an account manager with a customer on the line, a target to hit and a blue screen of death to contend with. No excuse. Michael Dell's friends may own the OS, but by the degree of help we got, you wouldn't know it. As I said before, if NetWare 5 needed huge amounts of resources, it would be more of a success, because that's what hardware folks want. If you start to talk about an OS that makes use of the kit that you've got, a la NW5, then hardware people aren't interested - they just don't move the kit as fast as they want. What to do - don't know. I got out, back to software. Dell is not the place for NOVL to go trying to generate business. They need to address the end user, plus impress on the reseller that NOVL software is the only way to go. If I were a customer (which I am now) I'd ask how much the server cost me to validate NT, then I'd use Linux with NW4 extensions from Caldera for a base OS - I know that way I'm not being ripped off. Dell? They have their own agenda - and it's not the 'thin client', believe me. Regards Peter BTW How many Servers running NW do Dell have? If it's less than 3 zeros I'd be surprised. NT4/5 may be their choice, but their systems rely on NetWare. Remove that and Dell is a 'nomark' (local UK slang for 'nobody'). Game over - No competition. Next time you meet a rep from Dell, ask them, they probably won't know, but the answer will surpise you if you get one Think about it. P

To: ToySoldier who wrote (24006)	1/19/1999 10:51:00 AM
From: Spartex	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 42771

Toy, I don't have the link for this news item, but would appreciate your comments on the snags developing between Tivoli and NDS integration -- and if in fact this is all true. TIA, QuadK Tivoli Hit by Strategy Hitch PCWeek UK JD Mutland January 12, 1999 Alliance with Novell backfires as systems are found to be incompatible. A joint strategy by Tivoli and Novell to simplify network management has backfired, a top Tivoli boss admitted to PC Week. The companies formed an alliance last year to integrate Tivoli Enterprise software with Novell Directory Services (NDS). Under the agreement, future versions of NetWare are to be made Tivoli-ready by providing a Tivoli Management Agent for NetWare. However, Tivoli's technical evangelist told PC Week that the systems are fundamentally incompatible. This is a blow to users, many of whom would welcome integration between the management products. Brian Alford, technical director for northern Europe at Tivoli, said: "The directory approach to managing a system is not necessarily the right way. Letting the network control your business conflicts with Tivoli's view, which is to allow the software to drive your business from the highest level, not from the ground up." In a statement when the deal was struck in December, Novell and Tivoli claimed: "This product integration will reduce costs and greatly simplify network management for customers who bet their mission-critical business applications on Novell and Tivoli Enterprise investments." The need for product integration was obvious. Hewitt Associates, a management consultancy with more than 70 offices worldwide, found difficulty in implementing NDS and Tivoli's Enterprise software. "There is no automatic way for Tivoli to distribute software to an NDS workgroup, which has meant investigating and manually distributing software to each individual PC, and we have approximately 6,000 people at our headquarters in Illinois," said Karen Nicolson, IT projects manager at the firm's US headquarters. Last year's deal was intended to solve such problems. But users will be left in the lurch if integrating the software proves too hard. Derek Venter, product manager for NetWare and NDS at Novell, explained how different the systems are. "Tivoli monitors every device, element and process, every sub-system inside a server, it checks the temperature of the hard disk second by second," he said. "It does not work in the same way as NDS, which handles the day-to-day running of the system." Alford said: "This hybrid approach is not doing us any favours. Management from the network level is simpler and it could be that Tivoli's method is too advanced for what customers want." Clive Longbottom, technical consultant at CSL Consultancy, commented: "Tivoli and Novell have formed this joint venture without fully testing how their products will integrate, and the ramifications of this for their customers could be sever."

To: ToySoldier who wrote (24006)	1/20/1999 9:14:00 AM
From: Spartex	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42771

1. "Sizzling predictions for products in 1999" InternetWeek, 1/11/99; Suzanne Harnos techweb.com Harnos reports that Novell's release of NetWare 5 in 1998 "made many IT professionals sit up and take notice." She predicts that Novell will continue to gain strength in 1999 as major partners such as Cisco, Lucent and Nortel begin to leverage NDS in their product offerings. 2. "Why 1999 will be the year of the directory" Network World, 1/11/99; Dave Kearns nwfusion.com Expect NDS to garner more excitement this year as Dave Kearns declares 1999 to be "the year of the directory." He says we can look forward to directory-centric computing becoming the norm and increased security through integration of the directory with standard protocols. 3. "The top 10 of 1998 * product of the year" Network World, 1/11/99; James Gaskin, Lee Schlesinger, Ann Sullivan and the Network World Test Alliance nwfusion.com Calling it a "rock solid network operating system," this article names NetWare 5 as Network World's 1998 Product of the Year. The editors commend NetWare's new administrator tools, easier client connections, new file system and transition to pure IP. 4. "Novell responds to Y2K requests" CNET, 1/8/99; Erich Luening news.com Luening provides positive coverage of Novell's Y2K tools and upgrades. He discusses how NetWare and NDS can be used to search for network problems and outlines benefits associated with the Information Ferret and Check 2000 tools. 5. "A NOS that's ready for the enterprise" Data Communications Online, 1/7/99; Lee Bruno data.com Bruno praises NetWare 5 for its ability to handle the demands of enterprise networks. Specifically, he notes NetWare's scalable directory, more reliable kernel, scalable file system, native TCP/IP support and built-in Java Virtual Machine. Bruno concludes by noting a Keylabs test proving NetWare 5 is the fastest network operating system. 6. "IT frameworks are key for hot technologies" InformationWeek, 1/4/99; Mary Hayes with Tom Davey, Martin J. Garvey, Monua Janah, Stuart J. Johnston and Mary E. Thyfault informationweek.com This article predicts companies will increase spending on network infrastructures in 1999 to support their newest business strategies. One example is Lesco, Inc., a company that intends to "future proof" its network by upgrading to NetWare 5 because of its enhanced security and performance features. 7. "The knockouts of 1998" InternetWeek, 12/21/99; John Fontana techweb.com Eric Schmidt makes his mark in 1998 with a "knockout" performance, including the release of NetWare5, partnerships with Cisco, Lucent and Nortel and overall "renewed vigor" at Novell. 8."Beat the Bug" San Jose Mercury News, 1/10/99; Reed Hundt and Eric Schmidt mercurycenter.com Don't miss this editorial by Reed Hundt and Eric Schmidt, calling for businesses and the government to help address the year 2000 issue. Hundt and Schmidt assert that by working together, businesses and the government can quickly recognize and solve the problem. In addition, they suggest that businesses should be given government-sponsored incentives to take preventative action. The authors conclude by calling on Congress and the President to act now to "pass laws that will reduce the Y2K problem to an expensive annoyance, not an economic Armageddon."