Summary: Nothing significant in the news about Novell's proprietary business this week

IDC mentioned Red Hat and Novell in some of its latest pieces of output and there is a new whitepaper sponsored by Novell out there. This is really not the ideal way to promote one's products. The ones with the deepest pockets can buy the most such publicity and praise. This deceives the public.

For Novell it has otherwise been a very quiet week. Almost nothing happened for SUSE and the presence in the press was mere. Here are some examples:

i. Indiamart scores where Commerce One failed

Remember Commerce One India? It tried to become the world's largest B2B platform in 2000 AD just when the Y2K bogey had died down. Ultimately, it was partly bought over by Novell for its technology and could never take off in B2B.

ii. HP LaserJet P3015X - Mono Laser Review

Drivers are supplied for Windows and OS X and are available for Novell NetWare and various Linux distributions.

iii. Smartphone Tool Improves IT Response Time

Mobile Admin lets IT workers respond to monitoring systems, including those from BMC, System Center, and Nagios. The tool also interfaces with many platforms, including Citrix, Lotus Domino, Novell, Windows, and UNIX/Linux. And many services are supported, connecting to SQL Server, VMware installations, BlackBerry Enterprise Server, and more.

iv. Speedy bus lanes coming to Utah County

Under the plan, passengers can go to BRT stops spaced every half-mile and catch a ride every five or 10 minutes, then coast along dedicated lanes to Utah Valley University, Brigham Young University, retail malls and the Novell campus.

Security

Novell's GNU/Linux distributions received an important security update, but in general there was little more to highlight. It has been a very weak business for Novell in security, according to the latest results which show only SUSE as the exception. Novell's PR people are trying to generate some buzz about security assurance, but there is nothing about it in the press. Novell's portfolio simply is not resilient. The PlateSpin product, for instance, only runs on Windows.

Mail and Collaboration

GroupWise was mentioned here as a truly minor detail and Google, a rival of Novell in this area (Gmail versus GroupWise), shows small signs of intersecting.

Google Inc. New opportunities for solution providers via Channel programs launched around Google Apps and search technology. Data Technique, a solution provider partnered with an independent software developer to develop a shim to integrate the free Gmail platform with Novell’s eDirectory.

People

Managed Objects was acquired by Novell last year [1, 2] and this is mentioned in the context of staff movements in the following new report.

Giunta joined the network virtualization firm a month ago. She was hired for her background at Managed Objects, a Northern Virginia firm bought by Novell last year, Giunta said in an interview Monday.

Another former General Manager from Novell is on the move:

Prior to joining OpenTrust, Christophe Therrey worked for three years as General Manager for Novell France and Africa and as a member of the EMEA Senior Leadership Team as well as acting Vice President for the EMEA Resource Management Business Unit. Novell is a leader in the field of secure open infrastructures and a major open source contributor.

Ross Chevalier, a Novell CTO (not the main one), is about to speak at a public event. ⬆