Users give Novell a to-do list

SALT LAKE CITY - A number of Novell customers say they attended last week's BrainShare conference primarily to take stock of the company's evolving e-business strategy and incoming CEO.

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What they heard left them hopeful, wary and willing to offer advice to a financially strapped company some fear could be acquired, sold off in pieces or suffer a withering of the technology that once had Novell atop the network business. They implored the company to:

Distance itself from its legacy operating system and concentrate on applications that use the directory to solve business problems.
Reinforce and deliver technology with affordable consulting and implementation services through the acquisition of Cambridge Technology Partners.
Jettison development of products such as BorderManager and NetWare as an application server platform that drain company resources.
Target marketing efforts to the highest corporate levels as answers to business problems, rather than technology alone.

"The [Cambridge] relationship, if executed properly, will reinforce Novell's ability to deliver product and solutions," says Doug Lionberger, director of technology services for credit verification company Trans Union in Chester, Pa.

Lionberger says companies such as his require help with emerging products such as Novell's iChain or DirXML e-business security and access packages.

"There is no doubt that some of the technology Novell has brought to market requires certain implementation skill sets that will drain existing Novell Consulting resources," Lionberger says. Currently, Novell employs 300 consultants. The Cambridge acquisition brings another 2,800 consultants into the fold. As Cambridge's consultants learn Novell technologies, they will be able to design, implement and execute within Novell's One Net strategy, observers say.

CEO-designate Jack Messman says Novell's e-business products "like NDS eDirectory, DirXML, iChain and the Volera Excelerator" are compelling applications that will increase the use of Novell products and ensure the company's success.

Novell and Cambridge plan to deliver these products by combining their focus on eight vertical markets that span the enterprise. Novell has concentrated on healthcare, education, insurance and government markets, while Cambridge is tuned to the financial, communications, energy and manufacturing industries.

Mark Starry, enterprise architect engineer for Capital Regional Healthcare in Concord, N.H., says he is excited about Novell's focus on products and consulting services because Novell's consultants are experts in the healthcare area.

"Once people try to implement [the Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act] without a directory, they find they'll need one," Starry says. HIPAA spells out what hospitals, insurance companies and the government must do to ensure the security and privacy of patient data. "Hospitals understand the need for directories and Novell Consulting understands HIPAA. With HIPAA coming, the directory is going to be key to our network," Starry says.

Users say one problem Novell needs to solve is the expense of consulting services. Engaging Novell Consulting costs as much as $15,000 per week or $400 per hour. Even for a company like Starry's, which spends 35% of its capital budget on information services, that's an expense it can't casually assume.

"Novell needs to slash prices or get a gimmick," Starry says. "They make it so intimidating for people in the amount of up-front money customers have to pay without really knowing what they are going to get."

As an example, Lionberger says Novell's original proposal for implementing iChain was about $750,000.

"This would be an impossible sell to executive management," he says. "Novell needs to package the product based on initial need and assist with the return-on-investment model."

Users give Novell a to-do list

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