08.15.09
Novell News Summary – Part III: SCO, PlateSpin Forge, Teaming, GroupWise, and More
Summary: The remainder of this week’s news about Novell
There is almost nothing to see here but a few minor items.
Legal
The SCO saga was last mentioned in:
- A Look at the Microsoft-funded SCO Lawsuit in Light of Newer Anti-Linux Microsoft Lawsuits
- Novell Responds to SCO Ruling, More News Coverage
- More SCO Headlines and What Comes Next
- More SCO Headlines and What Comes Next
Nothing particularly exciting has happened since then, but ZDNet has some more coverage and Groklaw got a hold of another IBM letter. It seems likely that SCO is stuck in the middle of nowhere and will disappear real soon now. We’ve heard it all before, haven’t we?
Netware
NetWare was mentioned very briefly in this article.
Other network operating systems, such as Novell Netware, have had access enumeration features for many releases, leaving one to wonder why Microsoft has waited so long to introduce it. The argument is that the feature isn’t needed if properly configured permissions on objects are already in place, but that doesn’t necessarily cover all the reasons one might want to hide the names of certain folders.
Another small history lesson:
And yet, that almost never happens. History says Google will struggle as technology shifts. But good luck figuring out what company might catch the next wave and give Google fits. In 1995, Gates worried about existing companies such as Novell and the start-up Netscape Communications. Neither wound up a serious rival. Google was three years from being born. Fear what you can’t see, not what you can.
Virtualisation
Ross Chevalier wrote about the subject while Novell’s PR people were beating the Xen drum and IDG wrote about where Novell fits in the SpringSource takeover by VMware.
And as Microsoft, Red Hat and Novell move more into the virtualisation and application server markets where does that leave VMware? Well, now VMware has a competing offering.
Todd Weiss, who used to write for IDG, warns that VMware’s state is similar to Novell’s. It’s a familiar analogy.
Some on Wall Street say the company’s stock is overvalued. And a leading IT analyst thinks VMware could be headed for a Novell-like downfall.
Trading Markets repeated some of the expected buzz about PlateSpin Forge:
Novell today announced the availability of PlateSpin Forge 2.5, the latest release of the only all-in-one, out-of-the-box disaster recovery hardware appliance. PlateSpin Forge leverages virtualization to back-up and restore physical and virtual servers. In the event of production server downtime or a disaster, protected workloads can be rapidly recovered, including failover directly on the PlateSpin Forge appliance, so there is no need for additional hardware. The protected workloads can later be restored to the production environment, either to the repaired server, or even to a replacement server of a different make or model.
Also on PlateSpin Forge, from the same source:
Version 2.5 features an improved block-based transfer protocol, making replications up to 50 % faster than previous versions. In contrast to traditional file-based transfers that copy entire files, block-based transfer technology replicates only changed blocks at the disk level, dramatically reducing the amount of data transferred, according to the company.
Novell is attributed for sort of pioneering the division of labour among nodes in another article about sharing a CPU (virtualisation).
With the PC, the balance changed: although software became a commodity, every PC needed some. A single central computer that hosted the operating system, applications and data became an expensive and outmoded idea. Novell sold us the idea of networking PCs and Microsoft jumped on the bandwagon with Windows 3.11 or Windows for Workgroups.
Mail/Collaboration
A new press release (also found here) speaks about Novell Teaming as a “leader”.
Novell Teaming was evaluated in several categories including security, team collaboration platform, and architecture and administration. The report also notes that, “Novell’s acquisition of SiteScape and rebranding as Novell Teaming has placed it in a solid position as a collaborative platform vendor.” A member of Novell’s suite of Collaboration products, Novell Teaming is a next-generation collaborative application that brings people, projects and processes together in a workspace that boosts efficiency and fosters innovation.
Novell has also just released (or merely uploaded) two videos that promote Novell Teaming. Here is the first:
And the second video:
When it comes to GroupWise, attempts are still being made to reverse a decision in Los Angeles (more here). We wrote about this at the beginning of the month.
Some 15 bids were submitted to Los Angeles to replace its e-mail system. Those not selected appear to be unhappy at the prospect of losing millions of dollars in business to Google. In a July 20 letter, Novell client executive Brian Hervey said that his company wants to continue providing e-mail service to the city and offered a 10% discount on the annual maintenance fee.
IDG spreads more fear of Fog Computing and adds:
Shortly after the breach, some public interest groups and local law enforcement officials cited potential security concerns in calling on the city of Los Angeles to reconsider plans to replace its Novell GroupWise e-mail and Microsoft Office software with Google Inc.’s hosted e-mail and office productivity applications.
GroupWise support in BlackBerries is still being noted.
Management/Monitoring
BMC has bought a company in a move that may affect Novell because it entered this field in a similar fashion (an acquisition).
BMC competes with Novell, CA, IBM and a range of smaller vendors in the market for BSM (business service management) software, which is meant to help companies manage their IT infrastructure effectively and align it in support of business processes.
More here:
BMC on Monday said it has bought MQSoftware, maker of middleware that helps companies monitor the performance of IBM’s WebSphere MQ as well as other platforms. Terms were not disclosed. BMC competes with Novell, CA, IBM and a range of smaller vendors in the market for business service management software, which is meant to help companies manage their IT infrastructure and align it with business processes. By purchasing MQSoftware, BMC wants a stronger play in companies that are working on SOA projects. WebSphere MQ is a messaging platform that allows various applications and systems to communicate with each other. It can play a key role in SOA implementations, which seek to create composite applications consisting of multiple, sometimes shared sources.
Security
When it comes to security, Novell’s PR people have been very busy recently. A ZDNet placement from last week is promoted by Novell’s marketing people now that it’s ‘sunk’ in there. Novell is also mentioned in the following article which requires registration to read and there’s this IDG article about Sentinel (in Swedish).
People
Former Novell managers are seen making their move, the latest examples being:
i . US Venture Partners takes on Gary Gysin as entrepreneur-in-residence
Before joining McData, Gyson was the senior vice president of products at Volera, a majority owned subsidiary of Novell. Prior to Volera, he held a variety of executive leadership roles including president and CEO of PGSoft, leading the company through five successful years culminating in the company’s sale to Novell. He was also vice president of sales and marketing at Crosswise Corporation, WorldTalk and Touch Communications.
ii. Revell leaves Zintel after six-month absence
Revell is a longtime figure in the New Zealand IT industry, having been general manager for Novell until 2003, held the role of services director at Computerland and solutions delivery manager at Gen-i, before becoming Zintel’s managing director in 2006.
Partners
The little event which took place earlier this month (Burton) had Novell demonstrate identity management. This is mentioned by IDG.
Earlier this month both CA and Novell demonstrated identity management products tweaked to be able to provide better security to both cloud- and SaaS-based applications.
Novell’s relationships with companies are also mentioned briefly in here, here, here, here, and here. It’s all minor and almost negligible. Novell was also brought up by this publication which is known for its Novell affinity.
Videos
There is not much to see here except Novell’s marketing videos and a Moodle tutorial that involves Novell’s networking software.
These are the steps to create an account in Moodle in my district which has Moodle linked with Novell via LDAP.
Utah
Transit changes in Utah have Novell’s campus mentioned, but this is nothing of significance.
A BRT line between Orem and Provo has been in MAG’s long-term plans for quite some time, Eccles said. The approved plans call for the bus rapid transit line to run from an intermodal center west of Utah Valley University, around BYU to downtown Provo and down to the Novell campus in south Provo.
Here ends another week with no major Novell news to report. █
