Stone followed by laying the groundwork for Novell's strategy in the months ahead. Stone said the company will focus on six key areas: the Linux desktop, resource management, Web services and identity management, common infrastructure services such as GroupWise and iFolder, NetWare, and open source and Linux.
In particular, Stone promised that the company would release SUSE Enterprise 9.1 later this year and follow that release with a new, enterprise-class Linux offering every 18 months. He added that a 2.0 upgrade of the iFolder component of Novell's Nterprise Linux Services is slated to be available soon, and NetWare 7 will be designed to work with Linux, not replaced by it.
"Now when a manual says to 'Install Windows 2000 or better,' you can--you can install Linux," Stone said. "Our strategy is to clearly combine the value of both products and deliver a total cost solution that provides a clear path out of the Microsoft jungle."
Novell channel partners said they were impressed by the morning keynote and the direction that the vendor is going.
Parker Pearson, marketing manager at Advanced Logic Industries, Blacksburg, Va., said that although Linux adoption might be slow, the strategy will pay dividends in the long run. "We see [Novell's] Linux initiative as very positive for our clients and believe that Novell has a good strategy going forward into 2004," Pearson said. "The rate of any technology adoption is always difficult to predict, but the financial case is becoming extremely compelling."
