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

To: EPS who wrote (26360)	3/30/1999 3:14:00 PM
From: Loring	Respond to of 42771

Interesting Cringeley story. If this Yahoo posting re AT&T's debt ratio is correct, how would they approach NOVL? A buy-out at approx $50/share sounds pretty expensive given their balance sheet. A merger, maybe...or....not even possible? "AT&T Gets a Makeover - When AT&T reached out and touched the credit markets for $8 billion last week, it meant more than just a single corporation borrowing enough money to bail out Russia. It was an important step in AT&T's corporate makeover from a dowdy long-distance company to a risk-taking outfit willing to roll the financial dice. Consider this. AT&T began the year with $5.6 billion of long-term debt-and expects to be about $30 billion in hock at year-end. That means the company will have borrowed about $25 billion in a single year, or half of the debt it assumed in its recent purchase of TCI. If AT&T flounders and its stock craters, AT&T doesn't have to cover stockholders' losses. But if AT&T can't make its bond payments, it's a disaster. Newsweek, online (April 5). "

To: EPS who wrote (26360)	3/30/1999 3:15:00 PM
From: DJBEINO	Respond to of 42771

Compaq Extends NetWare Leadership With Novell Directory Services -- NDS -- and Internet Caching Solutions Announces Initiatives to Deliver Caching Appliance and Robust NDS Platforms HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 30, 1999-- Demonstrating the market and technology leadership that has made Compaq ProLiant the server Novell NetWare and GroupWise customers depend on most, Compaq Computer Corporation (NYSE:CPQ - news) today announced new strategic initiatives with Novell's Internet Caching System (ICS) and Novell Directory Services (NDS). The initiatives will allow customers to accelerate Internet access, improve Web server performance and reduce network infrastructure costs. Compaq's caching appliance, built on Novell's ICS, will provide this solution on a platform that allows customers to quickly realize these benefits. ''Compaq's strong partnership with Novell enters a new phase with our joint efforts around Directory Services, Caching and NetWare,'' said Mary McDowell, vice president and general manager, Industry Standard Server Division, Compaq Computer Corporation. ''As a key partner with Novell in delivering NDS v8, Compaq is working closely with Novell to ensure ProLiant servers provide the most scalable, highly available and manageable platform in the market so our NDS v8 customers can enjoy the same advantages that all Novell customers have come to expect from Compaq.'' ''Compaq's ProLiant servers are the platform that allowed us to prove the performance, scalability and reliability of both Novell's highly scalable directory, NDS v8, and Novell's Internet Caching System,'' said Chris Stone, senior vice president of Strategy and Corporate Development for Novell. ''Compaq has clearly demonstrated its leadership in the NDS market with its role in helping Novell deliver NDS v8. We have also worked closely with Compaq on the testing and integration of Novell ICS on Compaq platforms through joint engineering and joint customer betas.'' Building High Performance eCommerce and Internet solutions Compaq will partner with Novell to deliver a caching appliance combining Compaq's innovative industry-leading server technology and Novell's high performance Internet Caching System (ICS). Customers, including those participating in the joint beta program, have expressed excitement about the opportunity to accelerate eCommerce and Internet-based enterprise solutions combined with the fastest time-to-solution and lower cost of administration and management. Delivering the Best NDS platforms Compaq ProLiant servers are the development platform for NDS, the world's leading cross-platform directory technology for managing the complexity of today's networks. In the next millenium, directories will be one of the keys that organizations can use to unlock and capitalize on the potential of their networks and the Internet. Compaq is well positioned to take advantage of this growing market. With its industry-leading market share of 500,000 plus NDS-enabled ProLiant servers currently in the worldwide installed base, Compaq has more experience with customer deployments of NDS than any other hardware company. The world's most popular server, the Compaq ProLiant, offers customers the superior scalability and reliability that will enable customers to obtain the maximum benefit from standards-based directory services. ''Maritime Telegraph and Telephone (MT&T), the leading Nova Scotia telecommunications company, is using NDS to change the rules of Internet access,'' said Monty Sharma, chief technology officer, MT&T. ''Compaq's ProLiant servers bring the industry-leading scalability, performance and reliability that MT&T demands for its customers. I wouldn't bet my business on anything less than NDS on Compaq ProLiant servers.'' Compaq Offers More to NetWare and GroupWise customers With an industry-leading 35 percent market share in NetWare and 65 percent share in GroupWise, the Compaq ProLiant is the server Novell customers depend on most. Compaq's is working with Novell to integrate the upcoming NetWare 5 release, 6-pack, with Compaq's recently announced 8-way ProLiant server technology. The joint solution will deliver an unprecedented level of scalability and performance coupled with the robustness and reliability customers have come to expect from NetWare running on Compaq ProLiant servers. In addition, Compaq's activeAnswers now offer expanded content for NetWare and a new solution site for GroupWise to help customers get the maximum benefit of Novell current technology. Compaq Background Compaq Computer Corporation, a Fortune Global 100 company, is the second largest computer company in the world and the largest global supplier of computer systems. Compaq develops and markets hardware, software, solutions, and services, including industry-leading enterprise computing solutions, fault-tolerant business-critical solutions, enterprise and network storage solutions, commercial desktop and portable products and consumer PCs. The company is an industry leader in environmentally friendly programs and business practices. Compaq products are sold and supported in more than 100 countries through a network of authorized Compaq marketing partners. Customer support and information about Compaq and its products are available at compaq.com. biz.yahoo.com

To: EPS who wrote (26360)	3/30/1999 3:49:00 PM
From: Paul Fiondella	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 42771

Quantifying DigitalMe and Citibank/Visa revenue The key to success here is: (1) convincing customers that using a unique DigitalMe based internet credit card is better than just using a dumb credit card. (2) creating a secure digital identity vault that is designed to give out the minimum information necessary to perform the e-commerce transaction successfully with a vendor. (3) fully integrating the system with Visa customer and vendor accounting so money can be moved without duplicate vendor paperwork and the vendor having to set up a duplicate billing system. (4) possibly combining the credit card with some "smartcard" type security device. (this would be to ready the customer for the next step in ordinary credit cards) ============== Where they can go wrong is if they do not give the customer full control over his/her digital identity. The minute they market customer info, give out too much information to the vendor from the vault, farm out verification to the vendor, or lose the "secure identity" features of the digital vault, then they are going to be reviled. Believe me there are idiots in every companies marketing department even now saying let's fool the customer --- he/she will never know the difference. THe minute trust is breached --- say by giving out your name to an on-line vendor, or selling your e-mail address to a email company --- it's all over. Both for Citibank and Novell. ======================== But if they do it right, if they do it to facilitate e-commerce and totally protect the customer's digital identity, if they regard the identity vault as something noone can mess with, without a court order, then its going to be the basis of e-commerce period. Quantify that in revenue and you are looking at infinity.