CAFE
COM:PORT
CHAT JOCKEYS
EVENTS

The Harish Mehta Chat

Harish Mehta was at the Rediff office for the chat and was quite amused when he learned that in the adjacent chat room Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu was already going strong. "I will be competing with him for a share of your audience," he chuckled. Later he was quite surprised to have managed to wean away a sizeable audience from the chief minister. Then for the next hour and half he settled down to spell out Novell's strategy as it ponders at the Internet crossroads.

Entee (Tue Nov 19 20:54:11 1996 IST):

Hello, Mr. Mehta....nice to have you here.

Hi Guys is Harish Mehta in yet?? I'm raring to go

Hi Mr Mehta

Hello ......is he here yet???

Let me start off with a question that you have probably been asked several times recently: How is Novell gearing up to cater to the demands of the this Internet-crazy industry?

I hoped the chatb isn't over yet

Hi, Everbody, Welcome .

Hi Entee, Novell has restructure and reposition their product lines to meet the demands of the intranet world. Novell is working at the internet speed to release series of products to make their products internet/intranet centric.

Hi Guys is Harish Mehta in yet?? I'm raring to go

Hi Mr. Warp, Welcome and shoot out any questions you have.

But don't you feel Novell has missed the bus?

A lot of orgns. are standardising on Windows NT or OS/2. Is it true that linkages between NT Workstation and NT Server will ultimately replace Novell print and file servers??

In India why is Novell beating the pants of Microsoft

hello harish, is it not true that the sudden popularity of TCP/IP has profoundly affected the fortunes of Novell and Lotus, the two companies which stand to lose the most?

But don't you feel Novell has missed the bus?

Entee, Novell missed it as much as microsoft and others. And now Novell is geared up fully and provide the leadership the way it has provided over last ten years. Also internet is a level playing ground for every one and company which has largest install base should be a natural winner.

Mr. Mehta: Independant Software vendors (ISVs) are porting their applications to OS/2 Warp server and a variety of Unix platforms, but not to Netware. And traditionally wherever the applications go the enterprise follows. What do you predict therefore will happen to Novell and Netware??

Mr. Mehat what happened? I am still waiting....

Dear Ray, Your vision of having a joint venture in India has played significant role and it was at the right time. You moved in those days at internet speed!!!

HEY NOORDA, WHO TOLD YOU NOVELL IS BEATING THE PANTS OF MICROSOFT. R U FROM INDIA?? HOW WOULD U KNOW??

what do ya have to say about interoperational problem of novel in hertrogenous env,

harish, u still there

In US Netware has receded to maybe 3rd or 4th place as networking solution, for new applications. Novell fell into monopolist thinking and was caught sleeping by MS and UNIX.

HI Warewolf, I personally believe that IPX is a better protocol than TCPIP as far as ease of management and expandability goes but in the internet crazy world standards are driven by market forces. Novell has always and continue to implement standards based products and also to contribute to evolving standards. Novell has accepted internet standards and all our upcoming products will be based on open internet standards including TCPIP. Infact Novell is in IETF comittee for defining IP v 6.0 standards.

What do you attribute Novell's success to? Was it good marketing or was it simply the absence of any competition? Now competition is aplenty with NT and OS/2, so what do you think will happen to Novell? Will it go the way of giants like DEC and IBM who are still names to reckon with but are not coming up with any breakthroughs in technology.

also don't u think that with the bigees like MS and SCO rolling out stuff like 64 BIT unix & nt4 one as to restruture ones strategies not just in terms of intranet or internet is concerned

A lot of orgns. are standardising on Windows NT or OS/2. Is it true that linkages between NT Workstation and NT Server will ultimately replace Novell print and file servers??

harish, my point was not whether novell is going to provide tcp/ip or not. i am saying that the internet is changing things and novell and lotus stand to lose the most. at least that is the general perception. how do you plan to counter this negative perception about your company??

Oh this looks like familiar ground.... Hi! Mr. Mehta hows's things??

There were no major back-ward integration packages. I mean even the annoncment of Windows'95 did'nt make 'an ant crawl on your ears'. Ha Ha

Mr harish u havn't ans my 2 Q yet

Hi Warpman, As you know the world is moving to client / network computing world where Directory services will be basic building block to unite heterogenous network resources. Novell's NDS is the only widely deployed directory today ( more than 17 million enterprise users ). We believe that battle field has now shifted from OS to network services and NOvell today supplies industry leading network services like management, directory, messaging and offcourse unbeatable file and print service . We don't see world becoming homogeneous and hetrogenity will be the norm of the day where again homogeeous glue offered by Novell will help unite heterogeous world.

Mr. Mehta>> Would you please enlighten us on the concept of "GREEN RIVER" which is being propounded as the strategy which will pull out Novell out of the apparent dumps???

Hi Techie, Novell is also working on the advanced technology you are refeering and products will be coming out from Novell's door as the market demands.

Hey Warpman why don't you get your facts right. "GREEN RIVER" is now called "Intranet Ware". Please check out the Novell website ASAP. Right Mr. Mehta????

Hi Warewolf, As you know that Novell is a technolgy company . We have realized that we need to comunicate better on our road maps and strategies to our customers and partners. Novell has increased its marketing budget substantially to effectively communicate its message.Novell has already taken number of steps for example release of Intranetware , an extension of NetWare to Internet world.

Dear Novellist, Thanks for helping out with so many questions to answers.

So, what will client/server do to help Novell in this. Your bus is ahead 50 miles and moving. Thinking 1-2-3.might help.

also u guys it seems have lot vendor problems.Also novells new strategy dosenot reflect anythink in the line of an application server this were people like NT & OS have been hit ,Secondly even UNIX who donnot even have a interface have sur

Mr. Mehta>> Currently Novell is not offereing any serious business critical client-server applications. In the long term will this strategy not force its existing users to look for other suppliers for application services????