03.07.10
Novell News Summary – Part II: SCO Case Resumes, Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) Hits the Headlines as Novell Makes Announcement
Summary: Highlights of Novell news, including the important announcement of Cloud Security Alliance
THE news about the takeover [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6] is very major and we will cover it separately in the next post. Novell’s proprietary business did not receive much coverage because of this news about a takeover bid, but there are still some bits worth going through.
Pulse
Novell’s PR people try to increase awareness of Pulse, for which this promotional video has been created.
Zenworks
The NHS contract with Novell (mentioned last week) continues to receive coverage in the British press, including:
• Has the NHS found a cure for worms?
The NHS has expanded the scope of its long-running contract with Novell to include advanced patch and software asset management functions to guard against malware such as the Conficker worm, which struck another UK hospital in February.
• NHS Pages Novell For Cloud Workload Management
The NHS has expanded its networking deal with Novell, which will now provide workload management as well as security for cloud applications
There is also this new instructional video about ZCM 10, among other new instructional videos and an old advert for ManageWise, which was uploaded to YouTube some days ago.
SCO
Tom Harvey from The Salt Lake Tribune wrote about the SCO-Novell lawsuit resuming.
At long last, it’s time for the main event in the long-running legal battle between The SCO Group and Novell over who owns the copyrights of the Unix software than runs many businesses computer systems.
Groklaw continued covering the Novell-SCO case, but there was nothing particularly out of the ordinary. Posts from Groklaw include:
Novell’s trial brief and proposed jury instructions have been filed in SCO v. Novell. Of course, the parties were asked to try to file the latter jointly, and they have done so a little bit on two instructions, but on others, they couldn’t agree so they tell the court they will file separately the rest of the proposed jury instructions. Novell has done so. When SCO does the same, I’ll add it to this article. And Novell has filed Amended Objections to SCO’s Second Amended Supplemental Rule 26(a)(3) Pretrial Disclosures. What, you are asking, is that?
• Stewart Rules on Daubert Motions: SCO’s Experts Can Testify
• Friday’s Bankruptcy Agenda Posted – We Need a Volunteer – Update: Hearing on Darl Motion Set 3/15
• New *Joint* Voir Dire Questions
• Sale Motion Re-notice on Mobility Sale & Dueling Definitions in Utah
• Changes and Additional Documents to the Yarro Deal Filed
There are more filings in the bankruptcy, related to the proposed Yarro deal, and because that hearing is coming up soon, on Friday, I’m posting them quickly, before even reading them myself. Specifically, there are proposed changes to the deal, so take a look. Exhibit A is the redlined draft. Exhibit F is “proof” that Seung Ni Capital, LLC actually exists, or at least that it has written up Articles of Organization. It’s a Utah LLC. Or at least the page we get to see has a stamp “Received – Mar 01 2010 – Utah Tax Commission [address].” However, the Collateral Agent Agreement says it’s a Delaware LLC, and it calls it Seung Ni Capital Partners, L.L.C. Is that the sound of wings I hear?
• More MOR’s, and an Amended Agenda for Friday’s Hearing
• More Pretrial Briefs in SCO v. Novell – Updated: letter re Brainshare
It’s interesting that Brainshare was brought up in there.
Brainshare
Novell’s PR people wrote about BrainShare too and so did Ross, who will present there.
I’m doing five sessions at BrainShare this month, March 21 – 25 in Salt Lake City, Utah. I look forward to seeing you there. Come find me and say hi.
Here is a new video about BrainShare.
Virtualisation
The news coverage here was mostly repetition of old news, such as:
1. Novell and Citrix collaborate on virtualization
The agreement also allows Citrix to participate in the PlateSpin Recon for Assessment Program. This gives Citrix services and Citrix channel partners the ability to offer customers virtualization, server consolidation, and cloud readiness assessments using Novell’s toolset acquired from PlateSpin. The PlateSpin Recon tool provides consolidation planning and capacity management and gives customers a view of their physical and virtual infrastructure. Providing this type of information is needed in order to accelerate the move to virtualization.
2. Red Hat sees three-way struggle for virtualisation space
However, he said, the advantage would lie with the two operating system companies, adding that although Novell and Citrix had teamed up to contest the same space, they stood more of a chance in the desktop virtualisation arena.
“Inside the cavernous exhibition hall, delegates milled round booths, inspecting white papers from exhibitors such as Novell, AT&T and Imperva. Off to one side, contact details were exchanged in a networking lounge while in a darkened auditorium the audience listened to a keynote panel discussion: “Data is valuable: bad guys want it.”
4. Novell boosts workload management
Novell is investing in the emerging market of intelligent workload management (IWM) and cloud computing.
Matthew Lee, Novell channel manager for data centre solutions, says it has tied its IWM strategy to the virtual and cloud environment. “We’ve diversified completely into the IWM space. A major driver for this was the demand from CIOs for flexibility and control.”
Here is Justin Steinman reading some Novell ‘advertisement’ for intelligent workload management (IWM). Novell’s PR people have released this podcast about PlateSpin. It’s probably quite an asset for Novell to sell to someone if it gets taken over.
Tigermail was mentioned last week because Novell is losing business in mail and collaboration. “Bye bye Novell, hello future,” says the client.
The long awaited move to Gmail from the outdated Novell Tigermail is finally here, and it can only hold good things for the DePauw community. Students and staff can breathe a sigh of relief; no more accessibility issues for Mac users, no more awkward desktop client for Windows users. It’s a big step out of the networking dark ages and a step towards a campus more fully, effectively connected.
Here is another new migration from Novell to Google.
Cloud Sherpas helped Lincoln Property migrate to Google Apps from Novell GroupWise mail and contacts data for 950 users. The company also implemented SherpaTools, to offer additional IT management functions for admins and new features for employees.
Security
This is where a real development has occurred. The following press release about Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) started a lot of discussion.
Novell and the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), today announced a vendor-neutral initiative to deliver the industry’s first cloud security certification, education and outreach program for cloud providers. Known as the “Trusted Cloud Initiative,” it will help cloud providers develop industry-recommended, secure and interoperable identity, access and compliance management configurations and practices. Now, organizations considering adopting cloud-based computing will have a trusted standard to alleviate concerns about security, governance and control of their data and IT assets.
This has already been covered in:
• Novell, CSA reveal certification
• Novell, Cloud Security Alliance Join Forces For Certification
Novell (NSDQ:NOVL) teamed up with the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) Monday to launch a new cloud security certification program in a bid to spur more mainstream cloud adoption and increase confidence in cloud security.
• Cloud Security Alliance And Novell Deliver Vendor-Neutral Trusted Security Certification Program
• Novell backs Trusted Cloud Initiative
• Cloud Security Alliance To Tackle Cloud Standards
Novell and the Cloud Security Alliance have announced a vendor-neutral “Trusted Cloud Initiative” for developing standards and certification of cloud security, compliance, identity management and other best practices.
From RSA we have the following about Novell:
The vendor neutral Trusted Cloud Initiative, led by the Cloud Security Alliance with initial additional leadership from eBay and Novell, will publish its version of what a cloud identity ecosystem will look like as well as private and public cloud identity guidance later this year.
• Security as a Service Accelerates at RSA Conference
Also of note: Identity management services seem to be shifting to the cloud. It’s safe to expect the Novell Cloud Security Service, still in beta mode, to grab some of the RSA Conference spotlight. And watch for partner moves involving Websense and Juniper Networks.
The ‘Microsoft press’ says that “Feds, Cloud Security Take Center Stage at RSA 2010″:
The consortium’s membership includes IBM, Microsoft, Sun/Oracle, CA, HP, Jericho Systems, Novell, SafeNet, the U.S. GSA, DoD and Department of Veterans Affairs.
There are also the following where Novell gets quoted:
• Cloud computing security challenges unite hosting providers, security specialists
One consideration is that Novell has to function like a Switzerland of technology protocols, supporting SAML 1.1, SAML2, WS-Fed, InfoCard and OpenID, as well as Shibboleth on the enterprise side. The Novell Cloud Security Service is a “true multi-tenant hosted security solution,” according to Chakravarty. “It can be hosted either at the SaaS’s hosting provider or by one of Novell’s partners.”
• Tightening the IT infrastructure belt
Often customers deploy only specific components of a product to achieve the business goal, while the remaining features, which could enhance productivity, are left untouched.
This is the view of Novell end-user computing business unit lead, Jessica Robinson, who argues that IT departments today must ensure they fully utilise existing investments to maximise their potential.
People
Novell’s Ron Hovsepian got together with a few people to discuss the hype of ‘cloud’ computing [1, 2] and Eric Schmidt’s previous role at Novell (prior to Messman and Hovsepian) is brought up here, regarding Microsoft's antitrust hypocrisy.
Dave Heiner, in a bog posting, said that complaints in competition law cases usually come from competitors. When Eric Schmidt, now CEO at Google, was CEO of Novell that company didn’t hesitate to complain about Microsoft, he said. And Google “hasn’t been shy about raising antitrust concerns about Microsoft in the last few years”.
Partners
As usual, Novell gets mentioned along with some vendor names where overlap and/or collaboration exist. Here are the few examples we found this week:
• Cloud computing security challenges unite hosting providers, security specialists
PivotLink, for instance, which offers cloud-based pay-as-you-go business-intelligence services, including an analysis service for data related to Salesforce.com, is in partnership with Novell to beta-test Novell’s cloud security service, which includes various identity-management capabilities based on software hosted at GoGrid.
“We get our authentication from the Novell service, which plugs into the customer’s service,” says Bob Kemper, senior vice president of development at PivotLink. “Today we use the identity management and their authorization to manage the security level. Novell integrates with the required enterprise systems for access to information.”
Mdwaba, who is also Kelly’s deputy CEO, adds that the company’s recent scoop of three awards with Microsoft, Novell and Cisco is unusual in the industry, and gives it a competitive advantage.
• Interactive Ideas Builds New Software Renewals Team
Differing software licensing and subscription models for both proprietary and open source software, plus the complex nature of managing the data involved to pro-actively target the important recurring revenue that subscription and maintenance renewals offer, Interactive have now created the dedicated renewals specialist position to make the process as easy as possible for the reseller channel and provide valuable support to key vendor partners such as Red Hat, Solarwinds, Novell, Acronis and Sunbelt.
Novell was also mentioned in some press releases of other companies [1, 2, 3]. █
