NDS: Novell's last, best hope

In our Oct. 26 issue, we quoted Yogesh Gupta, Computer Associates' vice president of marketing, as saying, "I have to have my own repository. I can't tell my customers they have to use NDS." Gupta doesn't get it. If I were one of his customers, I'd say, "Don't tell me I have to use your repository. I want to use one I already have."

This is and always has been the promise of a network directory service - to provide a single repository that all applications use. If a directory service only makes it easier to manage one specific network operating system (NOS), it's not very useful. But if all the third parties that write software for the NOS exploit the directory, it's a powerful tool indeed.

Perhaps Gupta objects to the fact that Novell Directory Services (NDS) runs on top of NetWare. Now that NDS is available for Win-dows NT (and Microsoft's Active Directory isn't), it's hard to see how that argument holds water. To snag CA, an adroit Novell would surely license NDS to CA's customers at a very reasonable fee.

But the fact that someone in as responsible a position as Gupta doesn't get the benefit of a NOS-integrated directory service says something about marketing at Novell. These next few months will be Novell's last, best opportunity to make a stand against the incursion of Windows NT in shops that used to be ruled by NetWare. In order to succeed, the company needs to spread the directory service gospel far and wide.

Novell need only look at one of the competitors it left by the wayside for a cautionary example. Banyan's StreetTalk was the first enterprise directory service. Now VINES, the NOS based on StreetTalk, is all but dead, and Banyan is struggling to reinvent itself as an Internet company. Banyan's technology was excellent; the firm's Achilles' heel was poor marketing and an inability to make alliances with other software companies.

It's clear that Novell CEO Eric Schmidt does get it. He's mobilized his people to bring more third-party developers into the fold. Whether Novell will prevail is not yet clear. Novell needs to provide toolkits, incentives and support to make integration with NDS attractive. If the company succeeds, the improved manageability of NetWare will outweigh the perceived ease of use of NT Server.

If not, Novell's Year 2000 problem is going to be finding a buyer for the company, because one thing Microsoft has always been good at is finding allies in the developer community.

Lee Schlesinger, test center director lee_schlesinger@nww.com.