NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: DAVE KEARNS ON NOVELL NETWARE TIPS 08/26/04 Today's focus: Novell financials in the black
Dear [EMAIL PROTECTED], In this issue: * Novell revenue and profit up in Q3 * Links related to Novell NetWare Tips * Featured reader resource _______________________________________________________________ This newsletter is sponsored by Alterpoint Read the latest analyst report on Network Change and Configuration Management (NCCM) written by EMA's Dennis Drogseth. This report discusses the latest developments in the NCCM market, including an in-depth look at DeviceAuthority Suite, a comprehensive solution for configuring, changing, and controlling today's complex, multi-vendor IT network infrastructures. Download the report today to learn how you can leverage NCCM to reduce the cost and complexity of managing network change. http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=73285 _______________________________________________________________ CONTEMPLATING A CAREER MOVE? For many of us, it is time to contemplate a change. You're great at managing networks, but what about your career? Get information and advice for managing and developing your career and guiding your staff's career choices at NW Fusion's Career Research Center. Click here: http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=73213 _______________________________________________________________ Today's focus: Novell financials in the black By Dave Kearns There was, as usual, good news and bad news (and some news that might be good or might be bad depending on your point of view) when Novell released its third-quarter financials last week. In the very good news category was the fact that both revenue and profit were up. They were up over the third quarter of last year. Up over the second quarter of this year. Up on a comparison of current year-to-date to previous year-to-date. In other words, revenue and profit were up no matter how you looked at it. Since "profit" was rather a loose term for Novell's bottom line over the past few quarters (i.e., "loss" would be a more honest descriptor), it was heartening to see - both for Novell stockholders as well as those of us who use, or write about, its products - that the company is once again in the black. The bad news was that $19 million in revenue increase was due to a one-time settlement of a lawsuit against Microsoft by the Canopy Group. Canopy bought DR-DOS from Novell and then sued Microsoft, accusing the Redmond giant of allegedly trying to block sales of DR-DOS back in the days of Windows 3.x. As part of the purchase of DR-DOS from Novell, Canopy agreed to share with Novell any revenue from the lawsuit. Still, even discounting that serendipitous piece of change, the bottom line was in the black, or at least a healthy shade of gray. The "might be good, might be bad" news is where the rest of the revenue came from. Sales of support, services and maintenance were up 15% over the second quarter. Revenue from new license sales, though, was down 16%. While many will opine that this simply reflects Novell's chosen path away from products into the services business, others will see it as a company losing hold on its unique properties and facing a future of battling competitors over intangibles (i.e., "services"). Of course, Novell's services revenue is more than four times bigger than its licensing revenue, so if one were going to go up while the other went down, then Novell has the right ones moving in the proper directions. That's good news to a lot of people, and news I think I'd qualify as "good" also. But there's still a nagging doubt or two. I can't help but think about Banyan Systems (I often think about Banyan when contemplating a Novell balance sheet) that, one day, abruptly stopped shipping its Vines networking software and its StreetTalk directory services only to transform itself into a services-oriented business called "ePresence," essentially a consulting organization in the field of first directory services and later identity management. Just this spring ePresence ceased to exist as its last remaining assets were acquired by Unisys, another company that has migrated over the years from hardware and operating systems to a services-oriented approach. Unisys was formed in the mid-1980s by the merger of former computing giants Sperry (the Univac people) and Burroughs. It's the heir to the organizations that created both the typewriter and the adding machine. Today, Unisys is best known as a company to outsource your help desk to. I'm not suggesting Novell is headed down this path, but I don't think the Univac (nor Banyan's Vines) is still actively supported. RELATED EDITORIAL LINKS More about the Canopy vs. Microsoft lawsuit http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20040511144030585 _______________________________________________________________ To contact: Dave Kearns Dave Kearns is a writer and consultant in Silicon Valley. He's written a number of books including the (sadly) now out of print "Peter Norton's Complete Guide to Networks." His musings can be found at Virtual Quill <http://www.vquill.com/>. Kearns is the author of three Network World Newsletters: Windows Networking Tips, Novell NetWare Tips, and Identity Management. Comments about these newsletters should be sent to him at these respective addresses: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. Kearns provides content services to network vendors: books, manuals, white papers, lectures and seminars, marketing, technical marketing and support documents. Virtual Quill provides "words to sell by..." Find out more by e-mail at <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> _______________________________________________________________ This newsletter is sponsored by Alterpoint Read the latest analyst report on Network Change and Configuration Management (NCCM) written by EMA's Dennis Drogseth. This report discusses the latest developments in the NCCM market, including an in-depth look at DeviceAuthority Suite, a comprehensive solution for configuring, changing, and controlling today's complex, multi-vendor IT network infrastructures. Download the report today to learn how you can leverage NCCM to reduce the cost and complexity of managing network change. http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=73284 _______________________________________________________________ ARCHIVE LINKS Archive of the Novell NetWare Tips newsletter: http://www.nwfusion.com/newsletters/netware/index.html Novell news page The Novell news and analysis from Network World Fusion. http://www.nwfusion.com/news/financial/novell.html _______________________________________________________________ FEATURED READER RESOURCE WONDERING IF YOUR PAY IS UP TO SNUFF? Check out Network World's 2004 Salary Calculator to see if you're getting paid what you're worth. Using data collected in the 2004 Network World Salary Survey, we've programmed this calculator with several categories that could affect your pay. Answer the questions and find out what the average salary is for your job category. 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