Bonum Certa Men Certa

Novell News Summary - Part III: PlateSpin Protect 8.1, Sentinel, and Few Other Things

Desert days
Arches National Park in Utah



Summary: All the rest of the news about Novell

There is nothing significant to see here this week, but what follows is a quick summary of minor things.



SCO



No interesting developments here since the last report. Groklaw has a couple more posts, the latter of which suggests that this saga ain't over for at least another year (the AutoZone trial).

Finance



We won't be following financial news as much as we used to. With the Yahoo!-Microsoft deal actually signed, we no longer read the relevant Yahoo! RSS feeds. Here is one minor report from last week.

Tech stocks finished the day lower. Microsoft, Novell and Oracle lost 1.5%, 1.2% and 1.6% respectively.


Older/Proprietary Technology



YouTube has this new video of Zen and IDG wrote about Zenworks.

"This is seamless to the end user," he said. "And it is integrated with Active Directory policies, and supports Novell Zenworks through group policy. This means that no back-end infrastructure is needed to deploy this across the enterprise."


Novell's eDirectory was mentioned very briefly in ZDNet.

Information about people is stored and referenced using directory servers. There are plenty of these around, including IBM's Tivoli Directory Server, Microsoft's Active Directory and Novell's eDirectory


Virtualisation



Novell's PlateSpin Protect 8.1 made this appearance and it looks like news indeed.

Novell announced the availability of PlateSpin Protect 8.1. With PlateSpin Protect 8.1 customers can protect and restore whole workloads, from both physical servers and virtual machines, up to 50 percent faster than before, shrinking backup windows and reducing the time needed to restore systems after an outage.


More in CBR:

Novell has refreshed its PlateSpin management line so that tools used to restore workloads from physical and virtual machines in the data centre can do so up to 50% faster than previous versions.


"Up to 50% faster" may also mean 5% faster, on average. This language requires skepticism. Novell is mentioned as a virtualisation contender by InfoWorld and it is listed by IT Jungle too.

But Handy says that over time, IBM will support the Xen hypervisor (pushed mostly by Citrix Systems and Oracle with some interest from Novell) and the KVM hypervisor (championed by Red Hat as an alternative to Xen on X64 iron); it will also support logical partitions on Power Systems servers running atop PowerVM and supporting i, AIX, and Linux. Exactly when is not clear. But there is a clear need for the software.


Novell remains recognised in this field despite being a minor player with minuscule market share. The lion's share of this market is still VMware's. We may have some fraud to report regarding this company in weeks to come.

Mail



GroupWise is mentioned in this bit about MessageSolution and also in this one and that one.

Additionally we have:

i. Twitter breach revives security issues with cloud computing

Under the $7.25 million plan, the city will transition its Novell GroupWise e-mail and Microsoft Office applications to Google's e-mail and office productivity products starting this December. The migration is expected to save the city more than $6 million in software license costs over the next five years and an additional $7.5 million from reallocating resources dedicated to GroupWise to other tasks.


ii. Novell promotes email efficiency for customers and staff

Novell (NASDAQ:NOVL) trained its staff Tuesday on how to use GroupWise software more efficiently. GroupWise is the company's collaboration and productivity platform. It includes both client and server software.


On Collaboration:

iii Collaboration Tools Can Cut Costs, Boost Productivity

Even with software investments trending down, collaboration tools may be worth a look for increased productivity, contained costs and a reduced carbon footprint. Cisco, IBM, Microsoft and Novell are pushing into the market, but open-source solutions are also available. Collaboration tools can even boost customer relations and revenue.

[...]

"Providing employees with collaboration tools that enable them to work together effectively, no matter where they may be located, is no longer a wish-list or nice-to-have item -- it's a requirement," said Kent Erickson, senior vice president and general manager of Workgroup Solutions for Novell.


Management & Security



Not so long ago we mentioned Burton and Novell because they were going to meet up from Wednesday to Friday [1, 2]. Novell's PR people mentioned it some days ago.

Both organizations will preview capabilities of Novell Cloud Security Service during an industry-wide interoperability demonstration at Burton Group Catalyst Conference, Wednesday, July 29, 2009 at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront.


From the Burton Group's gig, quite a few press releases came. Among those that mentioned Novell:

i. eXpresso(TM) Corp Showcases Cloud-based Single Sign-On and Interoperability at Burton Group Catalyst Conference

Recognizing the ongoing interest enterprises have in utilizing off-premise applications, the Burton Group has invited leading identity providers such as CA, Novell, Sun, TriCipher and Ping Identity as well as live SaaS application environments such as eXpresso, Salesforce, Google Apps and Cisco WebEx to wire together their systems using nothing but standard identity protocols and the Internet. The end result will be a showcase of secure interoperability in the cloud for attendees at the Burton Group conference to witness first-hand.


ii. New Log Management Solution from Novell Delivers a Key Building Block for Security and Regulatory Compliance

Novell, Inc. today announced a comprehensive log management solution that expands the functionality offered in Novell's security information and event management solutions. Novell(R) Sentinel(TM) Log Manager simplifies fulfillment of audit requirements and improves security by streamlining the management of ever-increasing volumes of raw event data used for risk investigations and compliance reporting.


iii. Novell Tackles Cloud Computing Security

At the Burton Group Catalyst Conference this week, Novell plans to demonstrate Novell Cloud Security Service, which is designed to secure Cloud-based and Software as a Service (SaaS) services. The company's effort underscores the continuing concern that as cloud services gain attention because of their potential business benefits, they may be outstripping their own security capabilities.


iv. PivotLink Eliminates the Security Barriers to Cloud-Based Business Intelligence

Novell separately announced it will demonstrate the Novell Cloud Security Service with PivotLink during the event. The solution allows PivotLink to extend its security model by integrating PivotLink's application and data level security into the overall framework.


Then came some more news about Sentinel, which Novell's PR people wrote about.

Today we announced a comprehensive log management solution that expands the functionality offered in Novell’s security information and event management solutions. Novell Sentinel Log Manager simplifies fulfillment of audit requirements and improves security by streamlining the management of ever-increasing volumes of raw event data used for risk investigations and compliance reporting.


More on Sentinel (from the news):

i. Novell aims to tighten cloud security

Novell has unveiled a cloud-computing identity and access management service, designed to extend corporate security policies to hosted facilities.

On Wednesday, Novell demonstrated an advanced prototype of its Cloud Security Service, which is due for release to enterprise organisations as a product early in 2010.

Novell said the new service, which has been in a private joint-development phase with hosting partners, is based on existing components used in its Access Manager, Sentinel and Identity Manager products.


ii. Novell gets into log management

The Novell Sentinel Log Manager is designed to simplify auditing and bolster security by streamlining the management of raw event data used for risk investigations and compliance reporting for regulations such as HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley and PCI DSS.


People



Novell participated in the following webinar, but names of people seem to be entirely missing.

Agiliance Inc., the leader in integrated Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC), today announced it will host a live webinar titled "FTC RED FLAGS: Are You Ready?" on August 6, 2009 at 2:00 PM EDT featuring distinguished panelists from Novell, Rick Wagner, Rook Consulting, Jim Anderson and hosted by Ed King, vice president of marketing, Agiliance.


A new IDG Webcast features Ross Chevelier from Novell:

Join Ross Chevelier, CTO for Novell Americas, to discuss key IT consolidation drivers....


Chevelier does some more talking elsewhere, as advertised by the notorious Sys-Con.

...Ross Chevalier, CTO for Novell Americas and President for Novell Canada, will be presenting at the upcoming Government IT Conference & Expo (www.GovITExpo.com) this coming October 6th in Washington, DC.


A new hire emits details about another former Novell employee:

Blount's experience at Novell and JD Edwards, where he led the strategic acquisition of over a dozen technology companies, complemented by his recent successful turnaround and strategic merger of Dynix Corp., demonstrates his vision and success in acquisition growth strategies and his ability to convert those acquisitions into successful, long-term growth.


Partners/Relationships



A few commercial relationships were mentioned here and here, but that's a lot less than average.

Marketing



Novell's chief marketing guy raves about Novell as a support site.

For many clients, support is the make or break attribute of a positive or negative software experience. Our technical support teams get this and it’s why I’m very proud that for the third consecutive year, The Association of Support Professionals has announced Novell as a winner of their “Ten Best Support Sites”. This prestigious award highlights excellence in online service and support.


Promotional Novell videos continue to be pushed into YouTube, usually by the company. The latest additions:



And another Novell commercial:



Here ends another quiet week.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Links 29/04/2026: "Snowden Affair 13 Years Later" and "Landmark Data Center Pause"
Links for the day
IBM is Already Doing 'Voluntary' Layoffs This Year in Europe ('Buyouts' Ahead of Mass Layoffs)
IBM's efforts to hide or belittle layoffs is noteworthy
Like GAFAM, US Telecom Industry Has Severe Debt Problem
Maybe their real problem is true profitability
Latest Example of False Marketing by Anthropic
Like Scam Altman, they're better at buying publicity (paying for hype) than they are at delivering something of genuine value [...] That has the full make-up of fake news and a publicity stunt
IBM: From RAs to "Workforce Re-balancing" (New Names for Mass Layoffs)
Well, "workforce re-balancing" means "RAs", which is a misleading acronym IBM has devised to soften if not hide mass layoffs.
Microsoft's Grip Has Slipped, Market Share Steadily Declining
This is why Microsoft is having financial issue
 
Slop Has a Long Way to Go Before It Gets Basic Facts Right
Please do not rely on slop for anything
The Corrupt Lecture the Non-Corrupt - Part IX - European Patents That Are Illegal (But Serve Non-European Monopolists in Exchange for 'Quick Cash')
People who shamelessly violate the European Patent Convention (EPC) have the audacity to lecture workers on "ethics"
Canonical is Selling You, Ubuntu is a Data-Collecting Platform
Canonical is looking for money in the wrong places
Seems Like Only Techrights Covered IBM Laying Off About 33% of Confluent Staff
How can such a large round of layoffs evade today's media?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, April 28, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, April 28, 2026
Gemini Links 29/04/2026: Bad Diet, New Middle Ages, and Temperature Model
Links for the day
Tracing Back the Misuse of the Word "Buyout" to Describe Merciless Mass Layoffs
So we can assume very large Microsoft layoffs are on the way, this time not spun as "buyouts"
Growing the List of Sites That Are Rogue
It's very important to raise and spread awareness of which ones are fake
Links 28/04/2026: Uganda Criminalising ‘Foreign Agents’ and China’s Economy "Starts to Show Cracks"
Links for the day
Anthropic and Claude Are National Security Risks Not Because of Politics But False Marketing and Vandalism, Plagiarism Sold as Innovation
The slop hype is causing severe damage
Gemini Links 28/04/2026: Misfin, ELPiS, and Developing Another Gemini Client
Links for the day
US Government Sites See More Traffic From Apple Devices Than Microsoft Windows PCs
Keep this in mind when Microsoft talks about mass layoffs while calling these "buyouts"
Layoffs Versus Buyouts
Microsoft has mass layoffs and those target the most experienced people in one of the best-paid locations
Aaron Hillel Swartz Would Have Turned 40 This Year
Aaron Swartz killed himself in 2013
The Trumps Are Making Jimmy Kimmel More Famous and Popular
Comedy has long been "controversial", but trying to get people sacked for the 'wrong' joke results in having no comedians or only pseudo-comedians who are the dictator's jester/joker
Links 28/04/2026: Microsoft's GitHub Upselling After Two Leaders Jumped Ship (Losses Pile Up), "Inflation Jumps," and More
Links for the day
SLAPP Censorship - Part 60 Out of 200: Talking About Corruption at Microsoft and Arrest for Strangulation is "Malice"
At the moment Brett Wilson LLP has no new clients
The Corrupt Lecture the Non-Corrupt - Part VIII - "Red Line" When the European Patent Office (EPO) President Sleeps With Sister of "Cocaine Communication Manager" (Whom He Unconditionally Protects)
If only management took its own words (idealistic pontification) seriously
IBM Laying Off Thousands of Workers Again, Based on Q1 Earnings Call
under the guise of "workforce rebalancing" we are again seeing that IBM plans to pay people (severance) to leave
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, April 27, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, April 27, 2026
Gemini Links 28/04/2026: Good Sunrise Viewing and Self-hosting from Home
Links for the day[1;5C
Microsoft Insiders: If You Don't Take the Lousy Severance-Like Offer, They'll PIP You Out (Microsoft Signals to People Over 40 That They'd Better Vacate the Place)
Microsoft targets its most experienced (read: expensive) workers
"AI" 16 Times in One 'Article'. The Register MS Got Paid to Post This Spammy, Promotional Piece of Slop.
Pay closer attention to who pays and who gets paid
Links 27/04/2026: Chernobyl Disaster at 40, "Heartbreaking" Decline of Australia
Links for the day
Gemini Links 27/04/2026: Gopher Catchup, MNT Reform, and Injuries
Links for the day
Red Hat Circling Down the Slop Drain
IBM, governed by slop fanatics, is going to do a lot of damage
Slop is an Addiction, Its Users Find It Addictive
please do not tolerate people who slop
The Corrupt Lecture the Non-Corrupt - Part VII - Secrecy at the EPO (Regarding Cocaine and Nepotism) Has Undermined Trust in Management
If Europe's second-largest institution is run by the "Alicante Mafia", does this mean that other key European institutions are "Mafia"?
SLAPP Censorship - Part 59 Out of 200: Mentioning the Fact Alex Graveley Arrested and Charged for Strangulation in Texas is "Reckless" and "Malicious", According to His 'Hired Guns' in London
it was framed as "malicious"
Links 27/04/2026: Strikes, Corruption in Spain (Spanish PM Sanchez' Wife), and YouTuber Faces Jail Time
Links for the day
Gemini Links 27/04/2026: Gopher Catch-up, Year of Contentment, and Path to Freedom
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, April 26, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, April 26, 2026