The Battle Is Personal For Novell, Microsoft Services Chiefs

Novell

Robert Couture, vice president of global consulting for Novell's Cambridge Technology Partners, has a formidable task competing against Microsoft.

That burden is compounded on a more personal level: Couture's counterpart at Microsoft is Mike Sinneck, his friend, neighbor and former colleague at IBM Global Services.

As the two services chiefs at Novell and Microsoft, they are now also rivals. Sinneck was named Microsoft vice president of worldwide services in January.

"Mike [Sinneck has been a colleague of mine since 1994," said Couture during an interview with CRN at Brainshare, adding that both men spent the bulk of their careers at IBM. "I consider him both a business colleague and a friend. We both live in Fairfield County, Connecticut, less than 10 miles apart."

While the battle is personal, Couture is far more concerned with the sagging economy and keeping systems integration partners happy than dueling with an old buddy.

"It's a depressed services economy. It's difficult to do," Couture said, noting, however, that he does see a light at the end of the tunnel. "Since last March, services have declined sequentially each quarter. We're holding our own and tracking the industry, but what we see is a lot of clients who have deferred projects."

The good news is that Novell has seen an uptick in customer negotiations over the past month and is making solid headway with large systems integration partners. "We're not seeing cancellations, but deferrals. And we are seeing a resurgence of deal activity in the last four to six weeks," Couture said. "Our pipeline has really lit up with opportunities."

Since the merger with Novell, the Cambridge Technology Partners arm--which has become the power base of the combined company--has made steady progress with systems integration partners who were concerned about the merger. Couture noted, for example, that Novell currently has several joint engagements with Deloitte and Touche and met with PricewaterhouseCoopers at Brainshare.

"They're not spooked anymore," Couture said of Novell's consulting and systems integration [CSI partners. "They're over that."

Novell's services chief said the integration of Novell Consulting Services with Cambridge Technology Partners in three major regions is on track, and the big challenge now is integrating the sales force and consulting arm. The combined entity now has about 1,500 consultants, a small increase in head count since the deal closed last July.

While the economic and integration challenges occupy his time, Couture was nonchalant about his more personal challenge in the coming months.

He laughed when asked if his relationship with Sinneck has cooled off, but acknowledged the obvious strain. "I have not spoken to him since he departed for Microsoft. He may have moved."