Novell Preps Linux Push

Here in Salt Lake City, at the company's annual BrainShare conference for partners, investors and customers, Novell CEO Jack Messman and vice chairman Chris Stone showcased the Provo, Utah-based company's latest attraction: Linux. Together, they promised to have copies of GroupWise, ZENworks and other Novell products ready for the platform in the coming months. Moreover, they announced that core NetWare services would move to the Linux kernel as well. That includes services covering basic file and print, messaging, storage, collaboration, etc. Adding these services to the Linux kernel will help give the platform maturity, Messman said.

This, obviously, isn't the first time Novell has tried to build a franchise on additional software platforms. Past forays include Portable NetWare, Processor Independent NetWare, SuperNOS and IntraNetWare. Few, of course, amounted to much of anything, and none achieved commercial success. When asked if the company's push into Linux would meet a similar fate, Stone emphatically said, "No."

"There's a significant difference this time around," he said. "All of the past attempts involved something that Novell dreamed up. Where was the rising tide around those products? Well, it certainly wasn't around Portable NetWare. This time, however, Novell is pursing a technology that is gaining widespread market acceptance.

Over time, Stone believes that many, if not all, of Novell's technology products could embrace Linux, so long as there is demand for them. The push, however, will not come at the expense of NetWare development, which he insists will continue in earnest inside Novell's engineering labs.

That news pleased NetWare faithful enthusiasts on hand for the week-long technology conference. But it will take more than that to please Wall Street, which still heavily discounts the value of the NetWare franchise. Said Messman, "Wall Street wants from us to see revenue growth."

With its stock stuck between $2 and $3 per share, Stone concedes his company has its work cut out. But, he added, Novell continues to make progress and investments. For starters, he said the company's channel business, which has fallen off in recent years as sales of traditional red-boxed versions of NetWare software have tumbled, is again on the mend. That's due, in part, to a relatively thriving GroupWise business.

To help partners, Messman and Stone pledged additional support. Among other things, the company has decided to meld its programs for alliances and education. It has also promised additional training and tools for partners, plus it unveiled a new training certification geared specifically around Linux. Moreover, the company is handing over live customers to channel companies that were once handled directly by the company itself. One South Carolina VAR was given 84 Novell accounts, Messman said. That's right -- 84.

Messman, for one, tried to build credibility for the company's new moves by conceding past mistakes made by his predecessors. Chief among them: clinging too long to Novell's proprietary IPX technology instead of the TCP/IP protocol. That costs the company dearly, he noted, vowing not to let that happen again.

Overall, the event this week is shaping up as an opportunity for Novell to demonstrate that it is indeed a supporter of open standards, advanced solutions and partnerships. Doubters remain, of course, but Stone feels better positioned than a year ago. The company is closer to customers, thanks to instituting a new customer council. And it's name is better known, thanks to a new ad and marketing campaign focused on key decision-makers. In addition, the company's decision to focus significant energies around security-identity management is paying off, he said, though specifics of that are few.

One decision still ahead: determining if Novell is properly sized given its current revenue. In addition to sluggish sales, embracing Linux and open source products may reduce the company's need for such a large engineering force, Stone said. "That's something we're looking at right now," he added.