Bonum Certa Men Certa

Novell News Summary - Part III: PlateSpin, GWAVA, Security, People, and Partnerships

Lionhead rock



THERE are many news articles listed here, but none are important in the sense that they really change much. For those who insist on reading on, we only warn that it might be dull.



Misc.



The first report that we deal with suggests that Novell might be dumped for Google in the City of Los Angeles, California. Google is also based in California, but this is unlikely to be related.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was asked on Friday to weigh potential privacy and security risks before allowing the City of Los Angeles to ditch Microsoft and Novell for Google.


Forrester, of Microsoft infamy, wrote about office suites and mentioned Novell as a sleeping contender.



Can Office 2010 save the franchise? Or will a simpler, better customer experience from Google draw in a bigger audience before next summer? And what does it mean for the bit players, independents, and sleepers like the Open Office suites from IBM/Lotus, Novell, and Sun, or for Adobe, Zoho, Thinkfree, Corel …



Finance



Novell's stock is not doing too badly. As the market fluctuates, Novell continues to be mentioned every now and then. See for example:

i. Overnight MarketWatch

Tech stocks made ground with Microsoft, IBM and Apple putting on 1%, 0.9% and 0.8% respectively. Hewlett-Packard gained 1.1%, while Novell and Oracle shed 1.4% and 1.1%.


ii. Market Winners & Losers: AIG, CIT



Novell Inc. (NOVL) Novell closed the session down 1.2% to start the week, bucking sector trends. NOVL last traded at $4.21, a loss of 5 cents on the day.



iii. Market Winners & Losers: Starbucks, Allegheny Technologies



Novell Inc. (NOVL)

The software company helped keep the Nasdaq in positive territory Wednesday, with shares closing up 7.1%. NOVL last traded at $4.68, a gain of 31 cents on the day.



Netware



Novell's Netware was mentioned almost nowhere except this new page about the Lexmark C736dn.

Fortunately, software setup is much more straightforward and the drivers for PCL 6 and Postscript Level 3, both in emulation, together with a monitoring applet, install easily. This printer has drivers available for Windows from 2000 onwards, OSX, a wide range of Linux variants, Novell NetWare and Sun, HP and IBM versions of UNIX. There aren't many places this printer won't fit.


A new Web filtering product has Novell mentioned in the accompanying press release.

LDAP Synchronization with Novell eDirectory (Novell NetWare 6.5) - Netsweeper can now use the LDAP protocol to access your Novell eDirectory group and user information, such that changes to an eDirectory management system automatically update the Netsweeper user and group database. (Previously, Netsweeper could only synchronize with Active Directory users and groups through LDAP.)


Virtualisation



The news about PlateSpin migration is a little antiquated by now, but here are Novell's PR people bringing PlateSpin back to the centre.



Business Service Manager 4.6 also marks a milestone in the integration of Novell’s PlateSpin workload and virtualization management solutions with our business service management solutions — a new PlateSpin Recon adapter is now available for customers to integrate PlateSpin virtualization information into the Business Service Manager analytical and dashboard environment.

[...]

In addition, Business Service Manager 4.6 has added support for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11, as well as Microsoft Windows 2008 Server.



ITWeb fell behind somewhat, so only days ago it covered the announcement about PlateSpin Migrate.

The company said Platespin Migrate 8.1 is a significant update for customers using Solaris Containers, a form of operating system-level virtualisation.


Novell was mentioned in more articles regarding virtualisation, but mostly as just a minor player, e.g. in:

i. Microsoft Vs VMware: A 'cloud' war of Titans?



Some call VMware a one-trick pony trying to joust with a giant in the backyard. Some say, it's a stallion that will only get stronger as it sweats it out in the real race. So are we sniffing a Novell Vs Microsoft deja vu even as both the companies are surrounded with technology, customer and competition troubles on their own. We try to understand all that and more in this 'twin plate'. Bringing both the rivals together as they prefer not to answer direct questions about each other.



ii. Big Blue animates VM control freak



Look out, VMware. And Citrix Systems. And Microsoft. And Red Hat. And Novell. And Oracle. Here comes IBM crashing the server virtualization management party.



iii. REVIEW: Citrix XenServer 5.5 Is a Good Choice for Cash-Strapped Organizations

With Version 5.5, XenServer now offers support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3, Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 and Debian Lenny. XenCenter also now provides a view that puts resources such as physical hosts, virtual machines, snapshots and storage repositories into folders, and resources can be tagged to create groupings of resources for reporting purposes.


iv. Citrix: A long run to VMware



Citrix is playing the best hand it can put together, just like Novell. Time will tell if either of them can take on their respective opposing juggernauts and make a real run for the money, not just a technical race.


v. Green Subsidies For SaaS

In practice, this means that the purchase of software for virtualization from vendors like VMware ( VMW - news - people ), Citrix and Novell ( NOVL - news - people ) as well as thin client technology from Sun Microsystems ( JAVA - news - people ) is being subsidized by these programs. The logic behind the subsidies is that companies should be given assistance and incentives to make investments that permanently reduce the amount of energy they use.


Mail



There was nothing about GroupWise this time around, but GWAVA made a couple of appearances:

i. GWAVA Announces GWAVACon EMEA in 2009



GWAVA is pleased to announce that registration is now open for its GWAVACon conference in Berlin October 17-19, 2009. Early bird pricing is available through August 15th.


ii. GWAVA Releases Retain 1.7 With Free Stubbing Edition



GWAVA is pleased to announce a new release of its popular Retain product. As part of this release, GWAVA is offering a free stubbing edition of Retain for any customers wishing to try the stubbing technology. Retain is GWAVA's email archiving and retention software designed for Novell GroupWise.


Management



According to eWeek, Novell enters fog computing with identity and access management (also mentioned here).

Novell is unveiling a cloud-based security service to perform identity and access management for hosted applications and hosted storage. The vendor plans to unveil the technology next week at a conference in San Diego.


On a similar or at least related matter, Novell's Alan Murray gets quoted in here:

“Today's data centers are heterogeneous environments with multiple masters and stakeholders, but in order for any organization to make decisions or analyze business performance these mixed environments need to work together simply and seamlessly,” said Alan Murray, vice president of product management at Novell. “Novell is a strong supporter of the Configuration Management Database Federation (CMDBf) standard, because it facilities the interoperability of data from multiple points of view. With a comprehensive view of the entire IT environment, administrators can utilize configuration data to streamline management tasks, resolve issues and, most importantly, effectively manage the components in their IT infrastructure.”


Security



The Burton Group is no reputable entity, but this does not prevent Novell from hooking up with it.

Novell will unveil the industry's first cloud computing security service that provides identity and access management for hosted applications and hosted storage, as well as a compliance reporting suite, at the upcoming Burton Group Catalyst Conference, July 29 - 31 in San Diego. Based on more than 60 cloud-related patents and patent applications, the Novell(R) Cloud Security Service enables Cloud Providers and Software as a Service (SaaS) vendors to ensure their offerings meet the strict security and compliance standards required by global businesses.


A vulnerability recently discovered in Novell Access Manager is still giving them a lot of flak.

Bad news was reported regarding Novell Access Manager. A vulnerability has been discovered in this software program. Remote attackers with an aim to compromise a vulnerable system, could exploit this vulnerability and obtain unauthorized access to arbitrary files and sensitive information on the system.


People



There are many things happening here. First of all, Novell's PR people brag about Justin Steinman, who is in marketing.

Novell marketing guru Justin Steinman has just been named a finalist for the 2009 Mass Technology Leadership Council’s Leadership Awards in the Emerging Executives category. The Leadership Awards honor Massachusetts companies and individuals who best exemplify leadership and excellence in business and technology.


This is also mentioned here, here, and here.

We also find former Novell employees making their move, e.g.:

i. New Management Team for Search Engine Factory, SurfRay

Board Member Ken Tomassen is Managing Director of Novell in Denmark, Finland, Norway and The Middle East. Prior to his career at Novell, which began in 2004, he worked for IBM Software Group for 10 years where he was responsible for software sales in Denmark and key accounts in the Nordic Region. He was also stationed in Paris with responsibility for software sales to SMBs in EMEA.


ii. Download DABCC Live Episode 2: Aternity Optimizing Virtual Reality - Desktop Virtualization Management and Monitoring Webinar



Before joining InterSystems, Matz was president and CEO of Route Link for eight years, a leading systems integration and groupware development company that he founded and managed. Prior to founding Route Link, he was vice president of Mashov Computers, the exclusive Novell distributor in Israel, where he was responsible for Novell's Israeli operations. His background includes more than twenty years of technical, marketing and sales management experience in the IT industry.


iii. S2 Intelligence's McCabe joins KPMG

McCabe has advised 90 of Australia's top 100 corporations and state and federal governments. He started his career in marketing and management roles with IBM and Novell before moving into research with IDC and Gartner. He started S2 Intelligence in 2002.


iv. Karl Strauss and GreenHouse Partner to Create Alternative Fuel from Beer Waste

EFuel is run by Tom Quinn, the inventor of the Nintendo Wii controller and former President of Novell. The Company also offers consumers effective home improvement products that not only improve the environment, but also reduce energy bills and maintenance expenses. The company offers a diverse product line that includes 'on-site, off-the-grid' power plants, Envision Solar, GreenFiber insulation, CoolWall exterior coating, and several lines of energy-efficient windows.


One notable move occurs at Univa (also listed here) where EMEA leadership will have roots at Novell.

Malaperiman has over 15 years experience in technology strategy and sales for some of the most successful IT companies in existence, including VMware and Novell. As head of Univa's operations in EMEA, Patrick Malaperiman will oversee strategic business and sales in these key regions, where Univa is experiencing significant increases in demand.


More here.

Malaperiman has over 15 years experience in technology strategy and sales for IT companies, including VMware and Novell. As head of Univa's operations in EMEA, Patrick Malaperiman will oversee strategic business and sales in these key regions, where Univa is experiencing increases in demand.


Dell gets a small portion of Novell staff as well.

So the hiring of Reynolds, who has spent 17 years in channel operations at Novell, Trend Micro and Palo Alto Networks, could very well signal a change for Dell—one that shows that Dell really is serious about adding professionals with channel DNA to the team.


A reference to Eric Schmidt at Novell appears at Information Week:

For business users, however, the story has been much different. Microsoft has used its operating system dominance to create what's been an elegant and unrivaled marriage of office productivity applications, e-mail, and now collaboration with SharePoint. Google CEO Eric Schmidt has done this dance with Microsoft during his stints at Sun and Novell and knows better than to take on Microsoft at the business user's desktop.


Novell people will participate in the Bomgar Roadshow (also found here).

“The Bomgar Roadshow agenda has been designed to drive efficiency and manage web-based support initiatives in demanding times. Participating in this event are executive members from Novell, Bomgar, Enterprise Management Associates and the CIO community. For individuals looking to address industry concerns and maximize the business value of peer-to-peer discussions, the roadshows will provide the resources and opportunity to gain significant business value,” said Glenn Willis, EVP, CIO Roadshows.


Partners



Novell IT tests are go a little further.

The Pearson VUE advanced computer-based testing system administers exams for leading IT certification programs such as Cisco€®, CompTIA€®, Citrix€®, Novell€® and others through a global network of quality test centers.


A company called Search Laboratory turns out to be working for Novell on subverting search engines.

Search Laboratory, whose clients include Novell, Jet2.com, TSG and LifeSize, was chosen after the company was able to demonstrate its expertise in Business to Business search marketing.


Novell is mentioned in the context of Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF) and it also participates in (and is thus mentioned in) the new lobby for FOSS in the United States. Novell's PR people mentioned this the other day.

Minor mentions of Novell (mostly in press releases of other companies) can be found here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Video



Technical videos continue to be thrown onto YouTube. This new one comes from an obscure user, but NovellServices, which is a Novell account, has just put up there some more tutorials, namely:



Next week will be interesting for Novell because of the bankruptcy proceedings of SCO.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Gravitating Towards What Your Role in Society May Be (or What You're Truly Good At)
Many IBMers already realise that they spent years if not decades of their lives working on mostly meaningless products/projects
 
Links 31/05/2026: Heat Wave Grips France and Edgar Morin Dies
Links for the day
Gemini Links 31/05/2026: Backup vs. Mirror, Year of the Death of a Euphemism, Slop Makes Only Yet Another (Untested) Calculator
Links for the day
IBM Red Hat Has a Long History or Track Record of Misusing Trademarks to Send Lawyers to Try to Take Down Pages and Web Sites of Critics
Red Hat claims to own words; IBM thinks it owns names
Richard Stallman is Coming Back to Bern to Give a Talk Next Month
another big talk coming up
900 Days Later
900 days is a very long time (almost 1,000)
Cybershow Requires Free Software to Record Shows
Cybershow is run by people who understand that without Software Freedom there can be no sovereignty
Losses at Microsoft's GitHub Seem to be Deepening
How many billions of dollars has Microsoft lost by betting on the false prediction that it can somehow "monetise" public code by LLMs?
Links 31/05/2026: Slop 'Code' (Junk) "Increasingly Leads to Production Failures" and "Huge Slop Costs With No Clear Benefits"
Links for the day
European Patent Office Strikes Intensify Tomorrow, Huge Strikes Planned for June, 10,000 Strike Participations Registered
Campinos may well be ousted soon
SLAPP Censorship - Part 93 Out of 200: A Blueprint of Reckless Lawfare in the UK, Waged and Funded by Americans (in Another Continent)
Lawfare powered by slop companies (including Microsoft) from America, targetting British people who consistently oppose slop because it's objectively terrible
Links 31/05/2026: Watershed Moment, Traveller RPG Book Binding, and GUI Annoyances
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, May 30, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, May 30, 2026
IBM CEO Can Become a Billionaire by Laying Off Tens of Thousands of Workers (or Buying Companies Using Borrowed Money, Only to Lay off Thousands in Them)
Like he did Confluent recently
Reminder That Linuxiac is a Slopfarm or Hybrid of Bobby and His LLMs
LLM fetishist that claims to cover Linux
BetaNews is Still Publishing Fake Articles, Sometimes Fake News, or LLM Slop Disguised as 'Journalism'
Slop isn't yet a thing of the past, but hopefully we'll get close to that by the end of this year
Gemini Links 30/05/2026: Writer's Block, Evil GAFAM (Google), and Scepticism of Slop
Links for the day
Links 30/05/2026: Fairphone 6, China’s Rise in Drug Development, Slop Wastes Money Without Delivering Value
Links for the day
Links 30/05/2026: Alarm Over Large Companies Cancelling Slop Contracts, Ozzy Osbourne Resurrection as Slop Draws Ire
Links for the day
Red Hat Exodus or RAs (or PIPs) in 2026 Not Limited to China, IBM is Doing Well at Hiding Layoffs
All we need to know is, does IBM hand out lots of PIPs?
SLAPP Censorship - Part 92 Out of 200: A Spouse Cannot be Turned "On" and "Off" Like a Faucet
Today's part will be very short because we keep the parts shorter in weekends and summer is officially around the corner (June on Monday)
The Register MS Has Just Published Fake Article That Mentions "AI" 23 Times. "Sponsored by Arm." It Does This Every Day.
A lot of the time we see this term everywhere in "the news" simply because slop pushers are paying for it
SQLite Under DDoS Attack by Slop Reports or Fake 'Bugs' (Just Like cURL and Many Other Projects)
Even Linus Torvalds is starting to talk about this
IBM: The B Turns From "Business" to "Bailouts" to "Buybacks" ("IBM is the Next Intel")
Trying to shore up the falling share price/stocks while veteran workers and Vice President (with high salaries) are cut off
Links 30/05/2026: More GAFAM (Amazon) Mass Layoffs, Peter Schiff Warns of Trillion-Dollar Slop Bubble Waiting to Implode
Links for the day
Slop is Plagiarism
Trillions of dollars down the drain, invested in a dud
Gemini Links 30/05/2026: Rehabilitation and Taming Emacs Cache and Temporary Files
Links for the day
Richard Stallman (RMS) Talks and Secure Transmission of Private Communications in Formats Everybody Can Access With Free Software
Maybe the FSF should step up a bit the campaign to use Free software to communicate with one another
General Consultative Committee (GCC) Discusses Working Conditions of Employees of the European Patent Office (EPO)
On the agenda: Salary Erosion Procedure, Breastfeeding Policy, New Amicale Framework, Public Holidays 2027
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, May 29, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, May 29, 2026
It's Friday Night Again, So Microsoft is Again Shelving (Under Weekend Lull) Nightmare News for XBox Staff
It did the same thing when the chiefs of XBox got canned
Links 29/05/2026: "Spyware Economy" and Cuba's Energy Crisis
Links for the day
Gemini Links 29/05/2026: Rap Rant and LLMs Criticised
Links for the day
Akira Urushibata on Misleading Numbers From Anthropic's Project Glasswing (False Marketing by FUD Tactics)
Posted yesterday and approved a short while ago
Censorship of Information Unflattering to IBM (or GAFAM)
Years ago we gave a platform to a censored Microsoft whistleblower
Silent Layoffs at Microsoft in 2026
Time will tell is there are investigative journalists out there who will quit parroting Microsoft (e.g. false layoff figures) and relying on LLMs controlled by Microsoft to spew out false "facts" for them
SLAPP Censorship - Part 91 Out of 200: Legal Aid in Support of Freedom of the Press and British Women (Attacked by Americans)
bolstered by prominent counsels
Codecs and Software Patents - Part XII - GNU's Web Site Will Soon Have Many Recent Talks by Chief GNUisance Richard Stallman (RMS)
GNU videos being transcoded or converted into AV1
[Video] Richard Stallman's Rapperswil (Switzerland) Talk Online
accessible without proprietary software
Trusting Trust is an Old Issue, Predating Rust and LLM Slop by Over Half a Century
Microsoft Lunduke wants to make a case against Rust and slop (LLMs), but the issues he addresses aren't exactly new or unique
California Should Have Abandoned So-called 'Age‑Verification Laws', Not Make Exemptions (for Now)
This has nothing to do with 1) children 2) safety 3) safety of children
Links 29/05/2026: Cory Doctorow on Why the Internet Feels So Broken, American Pope on Defederation
Links for the day
Techrights Does Not Censor Information About IBM, It Platforms and Retains Suppressed Voices From Inside IBM
They don't like it when people criticise the management [...] panic attacks mentioned
Bob (Robert) Cringely Devoted Three Years of His Life Trying to Profit From LLM Slop and Now He Sounds Off, It's Just Not Working and It Can Crash the Economy Soon
"The labs raising money at valuations with too many zeros are happy"
Techrights After About 60,000 Articles in 20 Years
Sites fail if they don't offer anything new or if they wrongly believe that adopting slop to parrot other sites will give them exposure
Organised Plunder or Robbery: GAFAM and Hardware Companies Rely on Media Bribery to Perpetuate False Narratives and to "Drive Sales" (and Drive Prices Upwards)
The price-fixing seems plausible and, if so, we need to demand action
Linux Foundation Destroys the Identity and History of Linux
Groklaw's PJ was thorn on the side of LF sponsors
The Problem of Microsoft Crimes
Opposing crime isn't "hatred"
The Fall of Slop (Even Microsoft Admits There's a Problem)
If Microsoft admits that slop is too expensive and is for "entertainment purposes" because it cannot be relied upon, why would anyone other than the pushers and profiteers still insist that slop bears potential?
Red Hat Will Die Inside a Dying IBM
IBM isn't where Red Hat came to thrive but where it came to die
Very Large Strike at the European Patent Office Today, "Production" Sank a Huge Deal
At this pace, we might be looking at tens of thousands fewer European Patents being granted this year
Gemini Links 29/05/2026: Leadership and Religion, the Board Game (Second Edition)
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, May 28, 2026
IRC logs for Thursday, May 28, 2026