Beneath all of the rhetoric was some news. First, Messman provided more details about Novell's plan to enhance its PartnerNet program. Announced Friday, the reorganized program will incorporate former SUSE partners to bring the company's global solutions, technology and training partner relationships under one umbrella. Messman said partners will now be able to develop expertise in one of four areas: Linux, secure identity management, resource management and Web services.
"We cannot possibly reach all of our customers with our direct-sales force alone," Messman said. "Partners are simply critical to our plan moving forward."
The CEO also said Novell, Waltham, Mass., will release a public beta version of Novell ZENworks 6.5 by mid-April, and the company will soon release Novell Storage Services for Linux. The ZENworks 6.5 beta, which will include Ximian Red Carpet, will enable network administrators to manage Linux, Windows and other desktop environments, and the Storage Services will enable customers to mount existing data on Linux servers, he said.
In addition, Messman said Novell soon plans to launch an open-source systems management project that would enable customers to tie together disparate network management tools such as IBM Tivoli, Hewlett-Packard's OpenView and Computer Associates International's Unicenter. He said the project will enable solution providers to build system stacks with access to current and future network management products, noting that SUSE's YaST will make managing those environments even easier.
"When you put all these pieces together, it's clear that Novell has become the only company that can offer a full stack of Linux solutions," Messman said. "Put simply, Novell is back."
