Summary: This post presents a rundown through some low-impact news from Novell, excepting SUSE

THERE is little to be seen here this week, but here is a bunch of bits we could gather nonetheless.

Finance

Novell's stock is not important enough to be mentioned frequently, but here is the exception:

Drilling down a little deeper into the Security Software & Services industry, you can see how analysts believe CHKP will stack up against some of the other stocks in the industry, like Novell Inc. (NOVL) [Chart - News - Analysis] and McAfee, Inc. (MFE) [Chart - News - Analysis], in the future. Analysts believe NOVL's earnings are going to grow at a rate of 10.00% while MFE's earnings are going to grow at a rate of 14.00%.

Virtualisation

Microsoft support seems to be quite a priority for ZENworks, as shown in the following new post from Novell:

With ZENworks Application Virtualization there are some new functions added that we have already heard are in demand, including support for Windows 7, improvements in the support of IE6 and coexistence with local installs of IE7 or IE8 and the ability to make the virtualized application “expire”. Other new functions are improvements to leveraging .Net 3.5 and the addition of the ability to support SQL Server 2005 Express. We’ve also made the process to publish the virtualized application to a USB drive even simpler.

Here is some old news repeated and also a report that loosely connects VMware to Platespin.

“It’s a necessary addition to their suite of management tools as third parties have been providing capacity planning tools for the VMware environment for some time,” he said, singling out VKernel as a leader in the space, with HP Co., Novell Inc.’s Platespin and DynamicOps also providing capacity planning tools.

Mail

The Los Angeles story never ends. Microsoft's Sidekick fiasco [1, 2, 3] is ironically being used to advocate staying with Microsoft (and Novell) rather than move to Google:

The plan by the City of Los Angeles is to replace its Novell GroupWise e-mail and Microsoft Office applications with Google Apps. Under the $7.25 million plan, the city will transition about 30,000 users to Google's e-mail and office productivity products by the end of December 2009. Microsoft had hoped to convince the city that they had an alternative solution.

More on the same subject from the Los Angeles Times:

The budget committee, chaired by Councilman Bernard C. Parks, adjourned after nearly two hours of testimony in which the merits of upgrading the current system were hotly debated by an array of city officials, as well as Google, Microsoft Corp, Novell Inc. and consumer advocates.

There was eventually a success in delaying this Los Angeles decision. Amazing.

LA City Council delays Google Apps decision

[...]

Security concerns had been prominent during earlier discussions of the proposal, which would see the city move off a Novell system and use Google's hosting service for e-mail and office applications. But the council was more pragmatic, noting that implementing the system would cost $1.5 million more than continuing on with the current system and asking for further details before voting. "The urgency case hasn't been made," said Councilman Bernard Parks, chairman of the Budget and Finance committee, according to the Times.

Groupwise was also mentioned here, in relation to the BlackBerry, as usual.

Identity Management/Security

The marketing team speaks about identity and most coverage of this still concerns the SAP deal.

Novell and SAP have announced a partnership to integrate, certify and support their respective security and identity technology and governance, risk and compliance software.

More here.

SAP, Novell drive GRC

SAP and Novell have expanded their partnership to cover governance, risk and compliance (GRC) solutions, states eWeek.

According to SAP, the collaboration involves a joint go-to-market strategy related to GRC solutions.

An evaluation of policies managers turns out to have included Novell's offerings.

SC Magazine’s Policy Management Group Test looked at seven products used to enforce configuration policies in an enterprise. This includes network, security, software, hardware, encryption and network configurations. Kaseya, AlgoSec, BigFix, Novell, Secure Passage, ManageEngine and Trusted Computer Solutions were featured in the test. SC Magazine evaluated each product on its documentation, ease of use, features and functionality, reporting, alerting and support.

People

Eric Schmidt is probably the richest person to have recently come out of Novell. His Novell roots are still being explicitly mentioned in new articles about Google.

We recently mentioned Stone's move, which is also mentioned in this short new article. For background:

Stone has served as an EVP/Vice Chairman at Novell, ran Novell's Venture Fund, and also served at Data General (now EMC).

Another former Noveller speaks out from within 'Android universe' (Google):

I write this today at the very real risk of further exposing my age. I’ve already divulged in articles past that I worked with Novell in the 90’s and have a lego-loving nine year old but this may serve to better pinpoint the number of rings around my mid section.

A former Noveller can also be seen in ADT, shifting around inside the company.

Prior to joining Avery, he held a number of regional sales and marketing positions in the IT industry, including Channel Sales Director and North Asia Territory Manager with Novell Inc.

More in this report:

Prior to joining Avery, he held a number of regional sales and marketing positions in the IT industry, including Channel Sales Director and North Asia Territory Manager with Novell Inc. Mr Lam reports directly to Robert Zhu, President of ADT Security, Asia Pacific.

TMCNet, which we often criticise for publishing press releases as though they are article, turns out to have a writer with Novell background, certifications-wise. Maybe it's temporary (i.e. a guest post).

Richard received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Michigan State University. He has been a Certified Information Security Systems Professional since 1999, and also holds Novell Certified Network Engineer (CNE) and Microsoft ( News - Alert) Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) certifications.

John Dragoon, Novell's Chief Marketing Officer, has pushed this piece into Forbes Magazine, where he is an occasional contributor. He argues about operating systems:

No doubt analysis of this heated debate among OS providers will vary depending on who you're talking to, but all will agree that an important factor has been the proliferation of hardware and mobile devices among business users and consumers. Just think, 10 years ago it's likely you used one of two devices for your primary computing--a PC or a laptop--maybe both. And if you did have both, they were loaded with similar or complimentary applications and were closely connected via a single operating system. In contrast, take a look at what is in your pocket or briefcase now. Chances are that shiny new smart phone is not running off the same operating system as your PC or laptop. And if you're thinking about purchasing a netbook, you have Chrome or Linux-based operating systems like Moblin, to consider as well.

Partners

Looking at Novell's affairs with other companies, there is this British relationship:

Radical Support's Birmingham support staff are certified in Citrix, Cisco, Novell, and Microsoft, as well as other critical technologies.

Also from the UK:

QA continues to demonstrate exceptional quality with 4th EMEA award for Novell training

[...]

Commenting on the decision, Jonathan Finch, EMEA Training Principal at Novell UK, said: "QA continues to lead the market for Novell training, providing both the highest volumes of Novell courses, and more importantly, recording superb scores in delegates' course critiques. The quality and depth of knowledge of QA's instructors is second to none.

About Salford (UK):

Bridgend is already talking with Salford about future integration projects, including other applications such as SharePoint. A Microsoft, Novell, Oracle and Sun VAR, Salford offers services around those brands topped up with pieces of its own intellectual property.

Novell is also mentioned in Autonomy press releases, which is normal. From a separate press release:

Toffa is a proud partner of Novell(R)...

Another relationship is formed (Simeio):

The company gained over a dozen new clients in financial services, healthcare and entertainment, adding to an installed base that already includes Fortune 50 companies. Simeio also expanded its partner network via new agreements with industry leaders Novell ( News - Alert), IBM and Oracle.

There are other noteworthy press releases, including one from Wyse, which has been working with Novell for years. More details here.

Marketing

In order to improve and extend its reach, Novell PR has begun accumulating more posts from separate employees (not just marketing people):

We’ve also made it much easier for more people inside Novell to contribute. In addition to PR posts, the Novell News blog will repost from the blogs of our CTO Jeff Jaffe and our CMO John Dragoon, as well as other company blogs. We’re very fortunate to have many world-renowned industry experts and thought-leaders on staff. Expect to hear many more voices on this blog.

John Dragoon sort of reposted the BrainShare rave (due to the above aggregation), so the local press treats BrainShare 2010 announcements as news (maybe -- just maybe -- due to these posts reappearing). From The Salt Lake Tribune, with a copy here:

Novell's BrainShare conference is returning to Salt Lake City after a one-year hiatus, signaling an improving economy and renewed interest from its customers, a company official said Tuesday.

BrainShare 2010 might be significantly downsized or canceled this time as well. We have already explained why [1, 2].

Other

Novell is not ranked so well among CIOs, but it still does OK compared to some of the rest.

It is telling that old-school vendors like IBM (ranked 20th overall), Microsoft (25th), Novell (29th), and Oracle (35th) are so far down the CIOs' list.

From CIO.co.uk (IDG) we have picked the following mentioning of Novell:

Highly likeable, clearly cerebral and possessing plenty of boyish enthusiasm and energy, Jack is something of an unusual occupant of the role as much of his career has been spent on the supply side with a roster of companies that reads like a directory of the client/server computing age, from dBase developer Ashton-Tate, through pioneering Windows database firm Superbase, to SPC of Harvard Graphics slideshow fame, once-mighty LAN software giant Novell and king of server-based computing, Citrix.

Guess who Novell loses more customers to?

What has been your biggest tech challenge?

Ripping and replacing the entire server and storage infrastructure as well as migrating 1,500 users from Novell to Active Directory for the Liverpool Women’s Hospital in less than six months.

It is amazing that Novell works so closely with the company that takes away its market share. Novell ought to escape this relationship. ⬆