* Why identity management could help put Novell way higher on the map
Novell has gotten a lot of negative publicity lately, with shareholders and analysts suggesting that wholesale product and division divestures as well as major management changes were needed. The timing of this publicity is particularly bad for the Waltham, Mass., operating system company as it made some major announcements at its recent BrainShare Europe conference that portend a re-emergence as a leader in the identity management space.
The company has announced a new version of Novell Identity Manager, now in beta-test mode, that includes a visual designer for advanced workflow and an enhanced self-service application to help customers reduce the costs of managing their provisioning processes. These features should significantly reduce the time and effort needed to configure complex provisioning processes that can provide instant access to company resources.
Novell also announced Novell Access Manager, also in beta testing, which implements the Liberty Alliance and Security Assertion Markup Language specifications, enabling business partners to seamlessly and securely share user credentials. Rather than simply sharing identity information between partners, Access Manager also provisions a new account when one does not already exist across partner Web sites, combining federation with provisioning. Both products are scheduled to be released later this year.
These are not trivial enhancements or additions but are products that should once more put Novell into the forefront of the identity management arena – an arena that Novell essentially created when it introduced eDirectory (under the name NetWare Directory Services, and later Novell Directory Services) a dozen years ago.
I’ve outlined in this week’s Network World NetWare Tips newsletter the criticisms that Blum Capital Partners and Credit Suisse First Boston have leveled against Novell. Among the suggestions are that the company divest Cellerant and Cambridge Technology Partners, both consulting operations. I’d agree with that only with the proviso that the old Novell Consulting organization (which emphasized identity management) be revived and revitalized. The SuSE Linux business shows no signs of ever being a profit powerhouse, but the identity management products could provide the core of a very profitable business.
Maybe, as both Blum and Credit Suisse suggested, new management is needed – perhaps dumping CEO Jack Messman and returning Chris Stone, former Novell vice-chairman. Stone, at least, understood that identity management was a major growth opportunity for the company.
Check out both Novell Identity Manager and Novell Access Manager when they’re released and see if you don’t agree that Novell is back on the path to identity management leadership.
