Novell CEO: No directory, no business

By Sandra Gittlen
Network World Fusion, 05/13/99

LAS VEGAS -- Novell is ready to move headlong into the appliance arena and directories are at the heart of the company's strategy.

Novell CEO Eric Schmidt told attendees of yesterday's NetWorld+Interop keynote that the company is unleashing a passel of products that will cater to the expected wave of Web appliances. Novell Directory Services 8.0, which started shipping last week, will be the lynchpin of this new focus.

"A business without a directory is a business doomed to lose," Schmidt said.

Schmidt demonstrated several products that integrate directories with enterprise resource planning applications so IS managers can quickly get a new user up and running on the network.

Working with PeopleSoft, Novell created a product that lets the network manager assign access privileges based on department and title. Applications for those privileges are then automatically downloaded to the user's desktop. Directories also let users replicate their desktops through a browser when they are away from the office.

Schmidt showed off the new DigitalMe, which will be available in June. DigitalMe lets users set up various identities for themselves based on whom they are dealing with. For instance, if a user wants to create an identity for online shopping, he can create a credit card that holds all his charging information as well as his profile.

Commenting on the safety of electronic commerce, Schmidt said businesses have to be more open about letting their partners and customers hook onto their networks. "The technology is here," he said. "The only thing missing is trust."

Schmidt also took a potshot at Microsoft's competing Active Directory, which will ship in Windows 2000. "Active Directory is not even shipping yet; it's in beta,'' he said. "It's a homogeneous solution of untested scalability."

Novell has been touting its new bend toward appliances all week here at Interop. Earlier this week, Chief Scientist Drew Major told attendees of Network World's Operating Systems Showdown that Novell is becoming a more "special-purpose platform."