Novell sets the pace locally

By MICHAEL FOREMAN

First-quarter figures released by network software giant Novell show its New Zealand subsidiary has beaten the worldwide drop in revenue experienced by the company.

While Utah-based Novell posted an international first-quarter revenue of $US245 million ($570 million), down 22 per cent from $US316 million for the previous corresponding period, Novell New Zealand's turnover rose 15 per cent on last year.

New Zealand manager Peter Revell said the percentage growth, which had been calculated in US dollars, would have been much higher in local currency terms because of exchange rate movements between the two periods.

The third successive quarter of record revenue for the New Zealand branch had been achieved by increasing software licensing sales to a broader group of large customers, he said.

Novell's established lines, such as its Zenworks network management and Groupwise messaging and collaboration software, had figured strongly in local sales, but Mr Revell said all areas of the company's product line had been part of the improvement.

Newer products based around Novell's eDirectory, which identified users connecting to networks locally or via the internet, were not yet in widespread use, but this would change this year as several local organisations were running eDirectory pilot projects.

Mr Revell said one large organisation was about to enter the "production phase" of a project in which eDirectory would be used to "authenticate tens of thousands of users outside the firewall."

"That is likely to get to hundreds of thousands within 18 months."

Mr Revell refused to name the customer involved on grounds of confidentiality, but the mystery eDirectory user could be the Inland Revenue Department, which is known to be considering fully adopting the package.

Internally, eDirectory would give Inland Revenue staff access to e-mail, applications and departmental files using a single login.

Externally, the software would allow the department to verify the identity of taxpayers online.

It could also be used as a security mechanism for the filing of company payroll records, and eventually, could provide for individual tax returns to be filed over the internet.