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Novell Sinks $100M Into Directory Alliance

Novell has steadily hyped its directory server software as providing the foundation for e-businesses - and now it is putting its money where its mouth has been.Novell today said it will invest $100 million with Whittman-Hart, a technology integrator based in Chicago, to spur sales of Novell Directory Services (NDS) for corporate and Internet business networks.
Written by Todd Spangler, Contributor

Novell has steadily hyped its directory server software as providing the foundation for e-businesses - and now it is putting its money where its mouth has been.

Novell today said it will invest $100 million with Whittman-Hart, a technology integrator based in Chicago, to spur sales of Novell Directory Services (NDS) for corporate and Internet business networks. Novell said the investment marks only the first move in an effort to team up with consulting and systems integrator partners.

Through the alliance, the two companies plan to integrate NDS with e-business applications such as supply chain management and enterprise resource planning systems. Whittman-Hart said it will train more than 600 of its consultants in NDS and other Novell products.

Under the terms of the agreement, Novell will purchase $100 million worth of Whittman-Hart stock, which represents about 6 percent of the company.

The major competitor to Novell's NDS software - the latest version of which is powerful enough to handle 1 billion entries, the company has claimed - is the directory suite of software from the Sun-Netscape Alliance.

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