Novell Set To Deliver Web Services Vision, Without CEO

Novell

Chris Stone, who was appointed vice chairman, office of the CEO, on Feb. 26, will deliver the keynote in Messman's absence. Novell's CEO intended to kick off the company's annual conference on Monday morning but he is still recuperating from recent medical procedures to fix a bleeding ulcer and two clogged arteries of his heart, a company spokesman said.

In addition to launching the company's Web services vision, Novell will show a bevy of new products, upgrades and solutions, including eDirectory 9, Zenworks for Servers 3.0, Zenworks Synergy and Novell Workspace.

Novell, which has undergone major management changes recently and a shift in the power base to the Cambridge, Mass.-based headquarters of Cambridge Technology Partners, plans to emphasize a new future based on Internet services and a radical departure from its proprietary past. Sources said the push to XML, Linux, J2EE and other standards signals that Novell is ready to disentangle its Net services from NetWare and eDirectory to gain market share.

The company is expected to unveil the forthcoming release of its Web-enabled eDirectory, code-named "Falcon," and a Web-base collaboration tool called Novell Workspace. Novell also plans to say that it will bring full Internet support to its successful line of directory-enabled applications and support all platforms, including Linux, without requiring use of NetWare.

"It's all about standards, standards, standards," said Brad Anderson, Zenworks Business Unit manager for Novell, adding that support for XML, J2EE and Linux across Novell's product and solutions line will highlight the show.

Novell, for instance, will unveil at the show Zenworks for Server 3.0 and new support for Linux and Solaris. The existing version currently supports NetWare and Windows NT/Windows 2000 only. Novell is also expected to reveal plans to release a new version of Zenworks for Desktops later this year, an upgrade code-named "Promethius" that won't require the NetWare client. Those plans follow in the footsteps of Novell's existing iFolder and iPrint products, which work independently of NetWare and rely on the Internet.

While Novell and its Cambridge Technology Partner arm intend to ramp up services revenue, it is also attempting to lure back partners who have strayed to new vendors. In Sunday's Salt Lake Tribune, Stone was quoted as saying that rebuilding Novell's channel is a major initiative.

"We used to own the channel. Now, all of a sudden, we don't. Why? Because of the absolute brilliant, aggressiveness of Microsoft," Stone told the Tribune. "Well, why can't we play the same game? We should be treating our channel the way Microsoft is treating our channel, and that is what we're going to do."