Give praise to Novell's support team

Editor's Note: We regret to let you know that starting in 2007, we will no longer be publishing the Novell NetWare Tips Newsletter. To reflect Novell's market direction, starting Jan. 3, you will begin receiving our Linux & Open Source newsletter, written by Network World Senior Editor Phil Hochmuth and published every Monday and Wednesday. Coverage of Novell and its products will continue at NetworkWorld.com. If you would like to update your newsletter subscription or sign up for others, such as the Unified Communications Newsletter or Dave Kearns' Identity Management newsletter, please go to the Subscription Services link below.

Among the many people currently or previously at Novell whom I’ve admired and respected over the years is Mike Lyons. It was just a year ago that Lyons, Novell's vice president of Global Support and Services, and his organization won certification under the Support Center Practices (SCP) Certification program, still the only Linux vendor to do so. This month Lyons got a new boss.

Novell recently named Colleen O'Keefe to the new position of senior vice president of services. According to the announcement, “O'Keefe brings deep expertise that will help ensure Novell customers receive world-class services to optimize the value of their Novell investments.” Now, if there’s one area where Novell continued to be “world-class” even as it was sinking in marketing, sales and – yes – even technical expertise, it’s the support organization.

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Editor's Note: We regret to let you know that starting in 2007, we will no longer be publishing the Novell NetWare Tips Newsletter. To reflect Novell's market direction, starting Jan. 3, you will begin receiving our Linux & Open Source newsletter, written by Network World Senior Editor Phil Hochmuth and published every Monday and Wednesday. Coverage of Novell and its products will continue at NetworkWorld.com. If you would like to update your newsletter subscription or sign up for others, such as the Unified Communications Newsletter or Dave Kearns' Identity Management newsletter, please go to the Subscription Services link below.

Among the many people currently or previously at Novell whom I’ve admired and respected over the years is Mike Lyons. It was just a year ago that Lyons, Novell's vice president of Global Support and Services, and his organization won certification under the Support Center Practices (SCP) Certification program, still the only Linux vendor to do so. This month Lyons got a new boss.

Novell recently named Colleen O'Keefe to the new position of senior vice president of services. According to the announcement, “O'Keefe brings deep expertise that will help ensure Novell customers receive world-class services to optimize the value of their Novell investments.” Now, if there’s one area where Novell continued to be “world-class” even as it was sinking in marketing, sales and – yes – even technical expertise, it’s the support organization.

One reason why the great folks in support have such longevity (Lyons has more experience at Novell than, I believe, all the other vice presidents put together) is that even when the company was being run by knuckleheads, they recognized the very great value that the excellent support provided to the company. Even when marketing and sales let down the existing customer base, support was there to ensure that NetWare (and ZENworks and GroupWise and all the other products) kept running, and running well.

My advice to O’Keefe is this: Just let Lyons and his folks continue to do what they’ve been doing, providing world-class services. The best use of your time will be ensuring that they get the funding necessary to keep offering the best service in the industry.

Just take a look at this 15-year old story to get an idea about how Novell’s support has helped users over the years. Then note that NetWire, the service mentioned in the story, was already five years old at the time.

That same NetWire tradition continues today at Novell’s support site, where there’s always an update, a bug fix, a “how to” document or just a willing shoulder to cry on when all else fails.

Novell support is the human face of the company; at least they’ll be there for you after this newsletter goes away. All I ask is that you remember to say “thank you” to Mike Lyons and all the wonderful people – Novell employees, partners and volunteers – who have done so much for all of us over the years.

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