Schmidt: Novell to be No.1 in networking
LAS VEGAS -- During his Comdex keynote on Wednesday, Eric Schmidt vowed to rebuild Novell Inc. as the industry's networking leader.
Speaking at a Comdex keynote, Novell's chairman and chief executive said Java will allow Novell to become a primary mid-tier server vendor once it gets through the next six to nine months.
"Eighty-seven percent of Java application development today is on the client, and that's where the fight is over who's implemented what library and Sun's lawsuit against Microsoft. But Java will be implemented on the server, and the middle tier on the server side is where Java will take off. It will not be dominated by any single company, and server-side Java plays to our strong suits -- a network architecture and NetWare-aware applications," Schmidt said.
Listen to the rebroadcast of Schmidt's keynote. PLUS: A video with ZDTV.
Schmidt negotiated Sun Microsystems Inc.'s contract with Microsoft when he was Sun's chief technology officer. He invited the audience to read sections 2.6 and 2.8 and form their own opinions on what Sun's licensees were allowed to do.
Novell's chairman was applauded when he announced that Moab -- the next-generation NetWare that uses native IP instead of Novell's proprietary protocol -- has entered beta and "should ship sometime next summer."
He touted NetWare, BorderManager, GroupWise 2 and Netscape's NetWare Web server, which ships from Novonyx next week. He presided over a demonstration showing how Novell's products could configure a network for every service and application needed by a new employee.
"It's pretty amazing," Schmidt said to applause. "This is a long departure from what you thought Novell was doing. Phase one in the 1980s was NOS-based. Novell made its mark with DOS file redirection, which was important for its time. Phase two will be directory-based."
Novell will also make monthly announcements of new directory-enabled applications and create new classes of software. Some of the applications will be Java-based, but all will leverage NDS and run on NetWare and Windows NT. Novell will support Microsoft's Active Directory Services Interface if it ever ships, Schmidt said.
Novell's engineers have all been trained on Java, which Schmidt said will also improve Novell's relationships with developers by replacing the hard-to-use NetWare Loadable Modules.
Schmidt said about 80 percent of Novell's resellers will be capable of selling its products. Novell is training its resellers and looking for new ones.
"A number have correctly figured out that putting together these network solutions are not legos,'' he said. "For many customers, this is their primary concern -- it's a huge new space for VARs."
NDS combined with Java will also provide back-end services for the explosion of thin clients and reduce the total cost of ownership. "Java created a new network architecture. Oracle, Sun, Netscape, and IBM [all have different names for it]. Ours is the Open Solutions Architecture. Microsoft calls us the Gang of Five and thinks we're a conspiracy. I prefer to think of us as being right."