09.06.08
Do-No-Evil Saturday – Part III: Some New Novell Figures, Products, But No Source
This accumulation will be a fairly quick one, but the links below provide plenty of additional information.
Finance
Novell’s financial situation has been discusses a lot recently. Because it is a Saturday, it would only be fair to present articles that are positive about Novell. These include:
1. The Early Edge: Caterpillar, Fortune Brands, Novell, and SLM Corp.
Today’s headlines include heavy demand for Caterpillar (CAT), an early end to a Fortune Brands (FO) distribution deal, earnings from Novell (NOVL), and a ratings downgrade for SLM Corp. (SLM). Here is what you need to know about this morning’s news.
2. Novell (NOVL) NewsBite – Novell Earnings Beats Estimates
Technical indicators for the stock are neutral and S&P gives NOVL a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold ranking.
3. US Close: Gloomy figures send stocks lower
Software group Novell advanced after third quarter profits came in ahead of analysts’ estimates.
4. Tech Winners & Losers: Dell
Shares of Novell rose 4.7% to $6.29 after topping analysts’ expectations for the third quarter, helped by a surge in sales of Linux software. The company raised its operating margin outlook for the year to range between 8% and 10%, up from its previous guidance of 7% to 9%.
Networking software firm Novell has reported third fiscal quarter revenue of USD245 million, compared to revenue of USD237 million for the year-ago quarter. Losses widened year-on-year to USD15 million, or USD0.04 loss per share, compared to a loss in the third fiscal quarter of 2007 of USD4 million, or USD0.01 loss per share. Novell cited a USD15 million impairment charge related to its auction-rate securities for the widening losses. On the plus side Novell reported product revenue from Open Platform Solutions of USD33 million, of which USD31 million was from Linux Platform Products, a 30 percent year-over-year increase. For its full fiscal year Novell is expecting revenue to be between USD940 million and USD970 million.
6. Novell Q3 revenue jumps despite workgroup decline
A slight decline in workgroup revenue was offset by growth in the three other areas of Novell’s business as the software vendor enjoyed a modest rise in Q3 revenue.
For a different perspective, start here.
The Microsoft/Motley Fool has published the article “Chalk Another One Up for Linux.” Although the article is focused on Wind Driver (which is mixed source just like Novell [1, 2, 3, 4]), it does also mention Red Hat and Novell.
As ongoing challenges in the economy continue to pressure companies to control operating costs, is it any surprise that IT managers are continuing to deploy economical IT solutions like Linux in their data centers? In June, open-source leader Red Hat (NYSE: RHT) reported bang-up results for its second fiscal quarter, and yesterday, Wind River (Nasdaq: WIND) also reported a strong Q2, attributable in part to demand for its Linux solutions.
A quiet Novell deal appears to have just been signed in Ireland. Perhaps — well, hopefully — some more detailed articles will soon follow.
Networking software firm Novell has signed a distribution deal with Irish storage and digital consumer product distributor CMS Peripherals, which will see the Irish firm offer Novell’s portfolio of products and services throughout Ireland. Novell said the deal plays a strategic role in its growth plans for Ireland. Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.
Netware
This technology will not go away any time soon, but as its importance declines, a question is asked about the accompanying Novell certification.
Now, I’ve been around IT certifications since the early 90’s when Novell first introduced the CNE program. I’ve seen the birth and maturing of the certification industry, gone through the “paper certification” craze, and come out the other end, where companies won’t release a technology without introducing an accompanying certification and training program.
Virtualisation
Following the departure of two virtualisation-bred directors, there is this article that mentions an older departure from Platespin.
Since Angelo’s departure Platespin has been sold to Novell where the smaller company is being completely absorbed into the larger entity.
One has to wonder is the Platespin ‘land grab’ was part of a Novell/Microsoft plot to leave GNU/Linux rivals (even Sun and Oracle) out in the cold. ZENworks Application Virtualization (ZAV) has just been launched too.
Novell today announced the launch of Novell ZENworks Application Virtualization (Zav). Born from a partnership with Xenocode, a company founded by former Microsoft engineers, Novell Zav makes it possible to package Windows applications inside a virtual container to ease their deployment while minimizingrisks of application conflicts and compatibility problems between applications
Here is the press release. Microsoft and Windows Vista meet Novell.
Novell today announced the availability of Novell® ZENworks® Application Virtualization, an easy-to-use tool that eliminates application compatibility problems on Windows desktops. This addition to the ZENworks product line creates virtual applications in a single, isolated file and allows them to be deployed and run securely, reducing the problems associated with deploying new operating system (OS) platforms like Vista, decreasing expensive service desk calls and increasing user productivity. With ZENworks Application Virtualization, the only application virtualization solution on the market that includes pre-configured templates for popular business software, customers can now virtualize and deploy applications in as little as 20 minutes.
Teaming
The following was mentioned last week in the form of a press release, but here is an article about it. It’s part of Novell’s closed development, of which there is plenty.
Novell is giving partners and customers a chance to test-drive its Novell Teaming productivity tool for free by announcing the availability of the Novell Teaming Starter Pack.
Identity Management and Security
Novell is formally combining identity and security management.
Novell has launched a Compliance Management Platform, a combination of existing identity management and security-event management products with additional reporting and analysis tools.
Here is another article from IDG.
The goal behind integrating the two existing server-based products is to make sure provisioning and access control is a monitored activity kept in conformance with business security policy. It will give IT managers a source for real-time monitoring of all identity repositories and allow for compliance report generation on the fly, according to Novell.
Trading Markets writes:
Novell has introduced a compliance-management platform to enable organizations to improve governance and security by combining provisioning and access-management policy with security monitoring.
From TechWorld:
Novell has launched a Compliance Management Platform, a combination of existing identity management and security-event management products with additional reporting and analysis tools.
The goal behind integrating the two existing server-based products is to make sure provisioning and access control is a monitored activity kept in conformance with business security policy. It will give IT managers a source for real-time monitoring of all identity repositories and allow for compliance report generation on the fly, according to Novell.
A magazine wrote about this compliance platform as well.
Novell has launched a platform for monitoring events and solving problems as they occur.
The Compliance Management Platform integrates identity and security management to reduce compliance and security costs, monitor events, remedy policy violations and meet changing business requirements.
Here is the press release.
Novell today launched a new platform designed to help customers with the critical business challenges of meeting compliance mandates and securing their IT infrastructure. Enterprises today are faced with the complexity of meeting stringent compliance requirements and protecting their businesses from internal and external security threats, even while IT security spending continues to increase unchecked.
In security news, there are quite a few advisories that include:
- Novell IDM Cross-Site Scripting and Script Insertion
- SUSE Security Announcement – IBMJava5-JRE,java-1_5_0-ibm (SUSE-SA:2008:043)
- Novell eDirectory Multiple Vulnerabilities
- Novell Forum Unspecified Remote Tcl Code Execution Vulnerability
- TITLE: Novell iPrint Client nipplib.dll ‘IppCreateServerRef()’ Buffer Overflow (or here)
Marketing
More Novell promotion has found its way into YouTube.
Those who are not interested in such weekly posts (“Do-No-Evil Saturday”) are encouraged to filter them out. The headlines are deliberately made consistent to facilitate filtering. These posts remain important for research purposes. █
