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

To: fb who wrote (25083)	1/21/1999 8:24:00 PM
From: DJBEINO	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 42771

Novell, IBM cut another NDS deal Novell cements its latest directory partnership with IBM's S/390 division. By Mary Jo Foley, Sm@rt Reseller Novell Inc. is continuing to mine the various IBM Corp. divisions in search of Novell Directory Services (NDS) deals. The latest to come through is IBM's S/390 mainframe division, which announced with Novell yesterday an agreement to offer S/390 customers NDS as an option, starting Feb. 26. Novell (Nasdaq:NOVL) has been expected to make inroads throughout IBM (NYSE:IBM) for its NDS directory, despite IBM's ongoing work to make its own eNetwork directory a corporation-wide directory standard. Late last year, Novell secured a NDS partnership with IBM's Tivoli Systems systems management unit; many insiders continue to expect Lotus to likewise endorse NDS. The deal with the S/390 division is the culmination of a long-standing agreement between Novell and IBM to offer NDS to IBM AIX and OS/390 customers. Novell is predicting more triumphs for NDS within IBM, as well. "This is just our beginning of a longer-term relationship with IBM," says Chris Stone, Novell's senior vice president of strategy and corporate development. While Stone wouldn't make any definitive predictions as to which other IBM divisions are close to finalizing NDS deals, he did say that the AIX and Netfinity server group would be "a good next step." Stone would not rule out IBM's Software Services division as a potential NDS customer, even though IBM officials continue to maintain the company line that IBM's eNetwork directory is the only solution robust and scalable enough for IBM's NT Suite solutions. 'Not the reality' IBM officials said that NDS for S/390 -- a product IBM has christened Novell Network Services for OS/390 -- will be one of several directory options offered customers. IBM's eNetwork LDAP Server has shipped for the past year as part of the OS/390 Security Server add-on, pointed out an S/390 spokesman. "We would prefer users buy all IBM, but that's just not the reality," acknowledges the spokesman. "The 390 is an open platform. We have lots of customers with NetWare, so it's helpful for us to offer them NDS, in terms of server consolidation." Stone, predictably, was more bullish about NDS' prospects on the S/390. "IBM is trying to get its directory strategy internally right. NDS will be a directory in the IBM toolbox. In the OS/390 space, it's really their only fully deployed directory. "This year, our focus is directory, directory, directory," Stone adds. "We want more applications that show off the NDS directory and attract more developers to NDS." Novell pushed its directory message hard at its first annual Global Partner Summit in Snowbird, Utah, this week. The company says more than 250 partners, including IBM, attended the two-day summit. zdnet.com