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: vibaby who wrote (24570)	11/28/1998 7:58:00 PM
From: Marc Newman	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 42771

Trying to remember ... One was Broadcom. Was the other Cisco? Marc

To: vibaby who wrote (24570)	11/28/1998 8:36:00 PM
From: DJBEINO	Respond to of 42771

NDS Is The Wheel That Is Turning Novell Around Tom Smith At the recent Networld+Interop trade show, Novell chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt used his keynote address to actually deliver a keynote. That's right. Schmidt gave only a brief plug for his company, which arguably can use all the free publicity it can get, and instead focused his remarks on a broader vision for the future of computing. In an era when CEOs have cheapened trade show keynotes by using them as just another outlet for their latest marketing foils or trial balloons, Schmidt's willingness to stick to the spirit of a keynote was, to say the least, refreshing. That very style-unafraid to break from the pack and able to see a plan through to fruition-has helped put Schmidt well on the way to rescuing Novell, largely through his personal campaign to reinvent the company around Novell Directory Services. The latest evidence underscoring the renewed vitality of the once-mighty LAN software pioneer is the coup Schmidt and Co. executed by bringing Cisco into the fold for NDS, which he adroitly labeled "the architectural underpinning of everything we do." Make no mistake: Cisco's endorsement of NDS flies in the face of its long-standing commitment to the apparition that is Microsoft's Active Directory, even though Cisco is sticking to the position that NDS will play second fiddle to Active Directory. In corporatespeak, Active Directory remains its "core directory." Earth to Cisco: NDS has been shipping since 1993, whereas Active Directory is still a beta product. I predict that within 12 months, Cisco will be forced to make a wholehearted commitment to NDS and to working more proactively with Novell on NDS hooks as users continue to push for real live-directory technology for their networking equipment. Cisco is far too savvy a company to stand on the sidelines much longer as the momentum behind NDS continues to build. The pendulum, it seems, is swinging in Novell's direction for the first time in a long time. In this case, the much-maligned developer has flexed its muscle through a vocal user population. And in the process, it proved to Cisco, Microsoft and the rest of the industry that Novell is, indeed, still relevant and that those users who have stuck it out remain remarkably loyal. One outspoken user, Tom Ferris, a network consultant with a financial services company, put it this way: "Cisco probably thought that Novell would fall off the face of the earth last year and not be able to take NDS this far." IT managers who have worried about the future of Novell and its flagship NetWare and NDS technologies can breathe a big sigh of relief. Cisco's backing, along with that of many other big-name players including Lucent and Nortel, means Novell is no longer in danger of becoming just a relic of the days when competition in the networking software business was healthy and vibrant. Sticking with Novell will not be career-threatening; NDS will play with all the major networking platforms in the industry. And that's a big win for all the IT shops using the two companies' products. It's interesting how, in chasing this deal, Novell employed guerrilla marketing tactics worthy of, well, Microsoft. Aside from some none-too-subtle arm-twisting by Novell and its user base, the company let word of the pact trickle out to the press two weeks ago, even before Cisco had given final sign-off. That approach can squelch a deal unless the strategic imperative is so great that the deal cannot be stopped, as was the case with this agreement. Such tactics were unheard of under the previous corporate leaders, Bob Frankenberg and Ray Noorda, both of whom failed to realize the competitive necessity of engaging the likes of Microsoft on its terms. Schmidt has rid Novell of the insular, defensive culture that grew up under Noorda and led to Novell's losing market and mind share to Microsoft. The Cisco deal serves notice that the business of stabilizing Novell and positioning it for survival is complete. Schmidt is characteristically understated in assessing the significance of this deal. "We've clearly passed the first of the tests with better sales and NDS," he told us. "But we are not totally there, and the issue is, 'How do we take advantage of this opportunity?' " Here's one unsolicited suggestion: Take full advantage of the NDS trump card and its growing cadre of supporters to line up the top service providers and computer companies, and continue NDS' march toward ubiquity. The stage is set. Tom Smith is executive editor at InternetWeek. Copyright ® 1998 CMP Media Inc. techweb.com