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The 25 most powerful people in networking

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Eric Schmidt, chairman and CEO,
Novell

E. SchmidtEric Schmidt has completed the public relations coup of the industry.

He's turned Novell from a direction-less near has-been into a respected vendor with downright fanatic customer loyalty.

A rare combination of technical brilliance and business know-how (with a good sense of humor to boot), Schmidt has turned Novell into the white knight to Microsoft's black-clad challenger.

Seizing the enterprise's dire need for directories, Schmidt has catapulted that one product into a business strategy that refreshed the entire company.

Novell has returned to consistent profitability, with as much as 90% of the company's quarterly revenue coming from directory-based products.

Schmidt intends to maintain the company's grip on the directory market, even after Microsoft's hugely hyped Active Directory finally makes its debut. As proof, he will push Novell's directory strategy into the brave new world of XML.

Novell's dirXML product will raise the bar for open standards and interoperability between the directory and other applications. That's a crucial next step for the directory, if it is to become the heartbeat of network systems management and access control it could be.

The "one product, many faces" approach is working well for Novell - and is a striking difference between this company and the multidivisional network behemoths that otherwise grace our Power lists.

Of course, Novell does have other products, namely its network operating system and e-mail server. It has also begun to venture into new Internet waters as well, with Web caching.

Now if only Schmidt could achieve the same sort of success he's attained in directories in Novell's other product areas.

Related links

Eric Schmidt's biography
From Novell's Web site.

Fourth exec leaves Novell
Network World, 10/25/99

ITxpo '99: Novell's Schmidt meets the press
Network World, 10/13/99

ITxpo '99: Novell's Schmidt lays out NDS plans
Network World, 10/12/99

Novell hunting for marketing chief
Network World, 08/26/99

Novell looks beyond network OS to alter profile
Network World, 08/09/99

Novell CEO: No directory, no business
Network World, 05/13/99

Novell moves onto next stage
Network World, 03/23/99

Novell Reborn
Directory-enabled networking will define computing in the 21st century, and Novell has once again staked out a position in the forefront of a major technology movement. Network World, 02/08/99


 Related links
Interactive power-o-meter
Interactive powerful people
Profiles in Power
Profiles in Power
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Power Sign-off
The Signature Series




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