Novell Inc. couldn't get the phone to ring two years ago when it was looking for partners to help build what was then a money-losing company.
Signs of a turnaround were encouraging one year ago when the leaner, more focused Novell demonstrated NetWare 5.0, a new version of its flagship computer networking software built around Internet standards. The software would ship ahead of schedule in September.Chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt opened Novell's annual BrainShare developer conference in the Salt Palace Convention Center Monday summing it up this way: "What a difference a year makes."
Novell stock that was selling for less than $10 52 weeks ago closed at 27 1/4 Monday and opened even stronger Tuesday. The New York Times was singing the praises of the "digitalme" personal Internet security system Novell will demonstrate during the week, and new and recent partnerships Novell is promoting read like the Who's Who in the computer industry: IBM, Lucent, Cisco. Novell's Internet Caching System is being endorsed by Alteon, Compaq, Dell, Foundry, Intel, Log-On Data, Mirror Image, N2H2, SkyCache and others.
Novell's NetWare products are outselling Microsoft's Windows NT in the small-business computer networking market and NetWare 5.0 is selling better than even Novell had hoped, Schmidt said.
"We've gone from being defined to defining network applications," Schmidt said. Novell's "next wave" is using its directory and networking tools to make the Internet a more efficient place for individual computer users, Internet service providers and e-commerce players.
Jabs at Microsoft were plenty during BrainShare's first day, but they were "friendly" and weren't being heard for the first time from Novell, said Christopher Stone, Novell's senior vice president of strategy and corporate development.
"There were 10 Microsoft guys in the audience, and I'm sure they were laughing," Stone said of the opening keynote that mixed serious announcements with the computer industry's unique genre of humor. A short video featured "Larry," a computer engineer, dreaming about his blissful life at work -- annoyed only when his dream was interrupted by three bikini-clad beauties reminding him he was really lounging on a tropical beach.
The crowd at the keynote roared. Members of the same audience would stand in line for 30 minutes or more to test drive Novell's "digitalme," which gives computer users a digital identity package that gives greater control over personal information distributed over the Internet.
Stone choreographs Novell's partnerships with other computer companies. It was his phone that would not ring when he first took the job with Novell. Then Novell put NDS, Novell Directory Services, at the core of its software offerings and cranked up production of other software tools that would support NDS.
"In the last 10 months, it clicked," he said during one of dozens of interviews the public relations staff has booked for him during the week. "The Internet is exploding and becoming unmanageable. Microsift is having their woes, and we have something exciting," Stone said. "I'm now at the point where I can't handle it. The phone is ringing off the hook. We've got good products and are getting our act together."
Stone said he doesn't see Novell ever having the anti-trust problems Microsoft has because it pursues all of its strategies with partners in tow and because it is committed to maintaining its practice of shipping its new products on time and with few bugs.
Novell's BrainShare continues through Frirday.