Novell Gets A New Attitude Under Cambridge Technology Management

Novell

Much to the glee of thousands of Brainshare 2002 attendees here, Big Red is shedding its traditionally kinder and gentler approach to marketing and will launch major strikes at Microsoft in the coming months. For a company that has taken a largely defensive posture to Microsoft's marketing barbs, the new attitude represents a major change.

One Novell ad shown to attendees parodies Microsoft's Windows XP commercial with a child flying and crashing into a field after a Windows "Dot.NET" server crash. The tag line reads in red: "For Servers That Only Go Down When They're Brought Down, Novell."

Another reads, "[Microsoft.NET? Not Yet."

"We're going to be more aggressive in our tactics," said Chris Stone, vice chairman, office of the CEO, noting that Novell's new management will finally give partners and customers what they have lobbied for in the last several years. "We're going to be edgy in our delivery.

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"It's not a new Novell, but there will be changes," he said, affirming that the power base of Novell has shifted from Provo, Utah, to the Cambridge, Mass.-based headquarters of Cambridge Technology Partners. "We're going to get aggressive."

Novell also plans to institute a fixed, one-price schedule for its solutions to simplify project planning for customers, Stone said.

As first reported by CRN in late February, Novell CEO Jack Messman recently cleaned house roughly a year after Novell's merger with Cambridge Technology Partners and a year after taking the helm at Novell. The power base clearly resides at the Massachusetts-based Cambridge Technology Partners.