Novell chases e-govt job

By ADAM GIFFORD

Novell is making a pitch to the Government to supply the technology needed to achieve its promised e-government initiative.

The company's national manager, Peter Revell, said he was inspired by a speech by Information Technology Minister Paul Swain to the Economist conference of business leaders in Wellington this month.

Mr Swain gave his vision of providing a service where a citizen could go to one internet site and change their details, and have that change flow through to all affected Government agencies.

Mr Revell said: "You don't talk like that around Novell and not expect a response. That's what we do.

"We're meeting with people looking at the whole e-government strategy. Recent developments in Ireland are interesting in that respect and could have application here."

Novell has signed an agreement with the Irish Department of Finance, covering all central and local government departments and state-owned companies.

It will allow the organisations to consolidate their networks using the Novell one Net technology, which enables users to have one log-in for seamless access to e-mail, applications and departmental files they are entitled to.

Mr Revell said one Net is becoming increasingly important to Novell as NetWare's share of the operating system market is eroded by Microsoft's Windows NT and Windows 2000 systems.

In response, the company is focusing on directories and other technologies and services companies need to take their businesses online.

But the reorganisation is hurting Novell's bottom line, with revenues worldwide for the July third quarter down 17 per cent to $US270 million ($573 million), compared with $US327 million a year ago.

The poor result internationally raised speculation Novell might be bought by IBM.

"We don't comment on industry rumours," Mr Revell said.

Novell chairman and chief executive Eric Schmidt said the company was being restructured around the internet, and it could take until next year before revenues recover.

"In the fourth quarter we will take additional action to ensure our expenses are in line with revenue. Our revenue run rate will enable us to do this without impacting investments in our key opportunities," said Mr Schmidt.

Mr Revell said New Zealand and Australia have already made the transition, organising operations around net content, directory and management software, and are reaping the rewards.

Both countries had experienced a record quarter. For the first nine months of the fiscal year, the growth rate was 15 per cent.

Weakness in sales to small and medium businesses was offset by growth in revenues from large corporate and Government customers. Services revenue also grew 23 per cent.

Revenue for Asia Pacific, which includes Australia and New Zealand, was down 8 per cent to $US22 million.

Mr Revell said that when he joined Novell in 1996, 84 per cent of its revenue in New Zealand came from sales of NetWare. It is now 47.8 per cent, with other products such as GroupWare, ZenWorks and BorderWare and services revenue accounting for the rest.

"We were a file and print server company. Over the past four years we have brought in network management products and security.

"Part of the restructuring is to bring more focus on our ability to sell solutions."

He said directory services are being recognised as essential as businesses make the transition to e-business.

Mr Revell said that the one Net strategy was an attempt to resolve problems created by extranets, intranets and the internet all evolving separately, requiring different sets of hardware and software.

"That's where we see we can play a role. We cut through those layers and provide for a seamless process, a business layer where all networks work together as one Net."

An example of how the Novell NDS eDirectory works is the myCNN.com site, which uses the digitalme function to allow users to register and tailor the site so that every time they log in they are given a customised view.