"Before Novell announced their Nterprise Linux, we were taking a hard look at which way to go. "It was when the major vendors started supporting Linux that it became a real viable option to bet our enterprise on," Hill says.
Gateway recently announced it will also pre-load the operating system, and Dell has said it will support the Linux distribution. IBM also announced last week that it would offer SuSe Linux on all of its servers. To boost Novell's Linux initiative, HP announced last week that it would factory-install Novell's SuSe Linux on its desktop machines. Users say that part of Linux's appeal is its support from large systems vendors such as Dell, HP, IBM, Oracle and now Novell. "Novell is the largest Linux vendor and is really in a leadership position to influence that or break it apart if they chose to specialize and take Linux their way." Llewellyn uses Nterprise Linux Services on Red Hat Linux, eDirectory and ZENworks, and is migrating away from NetWare 5.1. "What I am looking forward to from Novell is real leadership in the Linux and open source space," says Dale Llewellyn, manager of global information services for SPX in Charlotte, N.C. "My goal is to get off NetWare, not because there are any inherent issues with it, but more from a consolidation point of view." Hill uses Novell's Nterprise Linux Services 1.0, GroupWise, ZENworks and eDirectory. "For me, I'm a bit neutral on because at the end of the day what I really want is a Linux-based platform," Hill says. "We are doing major technology overhauls across the board and were faced with staying with NetWare, which has become more of an island over time, or moving to Windows, which does not solve any of our goals.
"We are a long-time Novell NetWare user," says Anthony Hill, CTO for Golden Gate University in San Francisco.
"It's still a big part of our revenue - it keeps the lights on." NetWare accounts for 29% of the company's revenue.Īs for customers, they say that Novell's strategy of using Linux and now OES as a migration tool gives them an out for what many might see as a dated operating system. "NetWare as a brand is generally positive to the people who use it, and it's sort of middle of the scale to people who don't know us, sometimes negative, sometimes positive," says Chris Stone, Novell's vice chairman, office of the CEO.
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