05.30.09
Gemini version available ♊︎Novell News Summary – Part III: GroupWise, Security, People, and the Demise of SiCortex
Summary: The past week’s news about Novell, excepting SUSE
ANOTHER analysis of Novell’s financial results is very near. A major component of it is proprietary software, so this post looks mostly at this lesser-explored part.
Older Products
There is almost no coverage of Netware, but there are few exceptions such as this book chapter which provides an historical point-of-view. It has just been released.
In 1997, Microsoft adopted a BackOffice Products suite family name, which was established and better known for a three-server license suite called BackOffice Server 4.0. The family name designated an aggressively priced product bundle combining Enterprise class server applications as a “solution” built on top of Windows NT Server 4.0. Whereas “full” BackOffice (as the three-server suite was known then) was a modestly integrated bundle of CDs, SBS 4.0 was a very ambitious product concept that fully integrated the same diverse suite of products all into one server. By combining Windows NT, Exchange Server 5.0, SQL Server 6.5, Proxy Server 1.0, and Internet Information Server 3.0 onto a single box, Microsoft hoped to challenge Novell for an entry-level server marketplace that, perhaps, had not yet even been born. Shared modem and fax services and a POP3 connector for Exchange were introduced with the product as well, a signal that small business customers needed familiar problems solved as part of the solution suite.
Novell’s old operating system seems to be mentioned here as well:
Interxion’s SDS is designed to ensure that the back-up is instantly off site. The SDS service can back-up standard file systems such as Microsoft, Novell, Unix, AS400 and Mac as well as live Oracle, SQL, Exchange, Notes and other hot back-up databases. It can also complete file-level restores of individual mailboxes or emails.
Virtualisation
On the virtualisation front, there were no articles at all about Novell, but we managed to find 3 articles that merely mention Novell as an existing option:
i. Virtualization users remain true-blue VMware adherents
“Hyper-V would be nice if their integration components worked on stuff besides [Novell] SUSE. Red Hat [support] is coming, but what about free distros [i.e., distributions] like CentOS and Ubuntu?” one virtualization user wrote in response to a question posed about VMware, Hyper-V and XenServer preferences. “My perception is XenServer doesn’t have a long future. It seems, like with everything else, there is a No. 1, a No. 2, and everybody else.”
ii. Oracle Virtualization ‘Tax’ Squeezes Customers
“You compare that to a company like Novell—which redefined its OS licensing to let you get a subscription for a physical server and apply it to an unlimited number of virtual machines on that server,” Wolf says. “Novell had close to a double-digit market-share gain in OS revenues last year because of that. They did very well by aggressively structuring licensing to take advantage of virtualization.”
iii. Fears of a VMware-only VMworld event
Fast forward to 2009 and virtualization is no longer a mystery wrapped up in an enigma. VMware is no longer the lone player. Competition continues to heat up from larger software companies such as Citrix, Microsoft, Oracle, Red Hat, Novell, and others.
It’s all about GroupWise, as usual. Some products that support GroupWise merely have it mentioned and Ross Chevalier takes the time to rave about it. Latest examples:
i. Esnatech Receives 2008 Communications Solutions Product of the Year Award
It is a pure application that interfaces to any enterprise phone system as well as all-major Groupware platforms and core business applications such asSalesforce.com, GoogleTM Apps, Microsoft Exchange TM 20003/2007, IBM Domino TM, and Novell GroupWise TM
ii. Deathmatch: BlackBerry versus iPhone
It’s key to note that BES supports Novell GroupWise and Lotus Notes, while both of those servers support the iPhone only through Web clients, limiting their integration with other iPhone apps such as Contacts and Calendar. Thus, BlackBerry supports more e-mail systems, even though you have to add a dedicated server to get that support (and upgrade to the latest version to support app management).
iii. Active Voice Repartini from NECII Targets Smaller Businesses
An entry-level version of the company’s Linux-based Repartee unified messaging system (to 64 ports), Repartini offers scalability for smaller businesses (four ports, 1,000 mailboxes, and 250 storage hours) and a range of popular voice mail features, but also lets users access voice, fax and e-mail and video messages from an e-mail inbox (Microsoft Outlook,Novell ( News – Alert) GroupWise or Lotus Domino).
iv. Sesame Workshop Looks to Eos
Sesame Workshop had identified the need to have Microsoft Exchange 2007 and Novell’s GroupWise 8 analyzed for the purpose of possibly replacing or upgrading their current system.
Sesame Workshop had Novell GroupWise 8 installed in a test environment. It was being evaluated by the Sesame Workshop staff as the upgrade path for GroupWise 7.
Here is an article about the joining or possible intersection between Evolution and GroupWise. It’s just a small portion of a much larger piece.
Perhaps the second most used computer program is the e-mail client — the software that allows you to download, read and send e-mail. For many users, web browsing and e-mail are the Internet. If you use Microsoft Office, you know about Outlook and Outlook Express as e-mail clients, but there’s still hope for those who wish to use something different. You have choices. Evolution (Windows version-Linux ships with Evolution by default), now maintained by Novell, is an e-mail client compatible with Microsoft Exchange Server, Novell’s GroupWise and all standard Internet e-mail formats (i.e., SMTP, IMAP and POP3). Evolution provides Microsoft Outlook users with a comfortable replacement for the heavier and more accident-prone Outlook.
Security
Novell is mentioned in an ECT articles on data security and there are security issues in GroupWise. How timely.
Novell has released updates for GroupWise 7.x and 8.x to fix six security vulnerabilities. Two of the vulnerabilities relate to buffer overflows in the GroupWise Internet Agent (GWIA) when reading e-mails via SMTP and when processing certain SMTP requests. Attackers are reportedly able to exploit the bugs remotely without authentication to inject and execute code with SYSTEM privileges.
Grant Ho, who appeared in all those promotion videos of SLED 11, is quoted in ECT on the subject of mobile security.
“This shows that the cost of purchasing and implementing a solution to prevent breaches is a fraction of the cost associated with the breach,” Novell’s (Nasdaq: NOVL) Grant Ho, senior product manager for end point management, told the E-Commerce Times. “Today’s security threats are more focused on data theft and intended for profit. As people find that hacking can be profitable, the price tag for stolen data is rising.”
There’s also this messy press release about data recovery. It appeared in a couple of places and it mentions Novell.
Now datarecoveryprograms.net is launching best range of data recovery software and tools for linux, novell, mac, and windows operating system.
People
Here is an off-beat or off-topic article about a lady who works for Novell.
O’Keefe is the senior vice president of services, TeleWeb and Operations, at Novell, a global technical support group that provides on-site and remote support services as well as outsourced IT management services, technical training and consulting services to customers.
Stafford Masie’s departure from Novell has left Novell South Africa in bad shape. Now he’s doing the same to Google, which he moved to from Novell.
Google SA still headless
[...]
Google established a country office in South Africa in mid-2007, appointing ex-Novell SA head Stafford Masie as the first Google SA country manager. The decision from Google to enter the South African market was welcomed by the local online industry, but the honeymoon period did not last long as Google SA was later dogged by allegations of anti-competitive behaviour and failing to serve the needs of South Africans.
More Novellers make their move:
Ms. Terry is a director for Leadership Development, Americas Learning and Global Learning at Novell, a software company that provides management solutions. She’s based in Las Vegas.
She previously held the position of worldwide channel marketing manager at Novell. She attended Louisiana State University.
And another move to keep an eye on:
Prior to Citrix, he held a number of positions at Novell, including the Director of Product Management for the ZENWorks product line. Before Novell he was the founder and CEO of Netoria, Inc, a directory services software company, acquired by Novell in 1999.
Partners
SiCortex, which Novell worked with, is closing down. Its CEO, who came from Novell, has his role described thusly:
Earlier this year, SiCortex officials said they had 84 employees. That includes CEO Chris Stone, a former Novell executive responsible for engineering and product management from 2002 to 2004; and co-founder and chief architect Jud Leonard, who designed the architecture behind SiCortex’s systems, which are positioned as an alternative to Intel-based clusters.
Another noteworthy partnership with Novell:
Training Associates inks
partnership with Novell
The Training Associates (TTA), a Westborough-based provider of trainer consultants and solutions, this week announced that Novell Inc. has granted a special designation to TTA as an “Authorized Novell Instructor Solutions Partner” to help meet Novell’s trainer delivery requirements. With U.S. headquarters in Waltham, Novell is a global software corporation.
Novell was also listed as a partner in this press release.
Versalign maintains expertise in Microsoft, Novell, Citrix, SonicWall, Packeteer, Fortinet, Cisco, Checkpoint, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Unitrends, Symantec and Dell Products. Although recent years have been strenuous for technology related businesses, Mr. Greenberg was able to produce a profit of $44,271 in 2008*.
All in all, there was nothing major. One has to dig quite deep in order to identify news of substance about Novell. Still, there’s almost none. █
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