Novell UK sees good times

Novell yesterday reported a sharp incline in revenues and profits and UK managing director Andrew Sadler-Smith said that the UK had done its bit. Corporate licensing was up 220 per cent year on year while Novell had also doubled its business in Ireland and Scotland. Recent big wins included RTE, Air Lingus and Telecom Eire in Ireland; and Scottish Power, Scottish Widows and Standard Life in Scotland.

"I'm personally not surprised but it is better than the analysts thought," said Sadler-Smith. "We've successfully transitioned to being an Internet and intranet player, and we've trimmed the company to grow in this sector."

Sadler-Smith said the one-time dominant force in networking had also been helped by Border Manager, the proxy caching and security product released in September. The product was developed in a year, showing that Novell is now a leaner, meaner operation.

Next year, Novell plans to release 'Moab', the next version of IntraNetWare, which will have integral support for Java applications. Novell wants to position the product as the de facto server for companies running Java desktop applications, in the same way that Microsoft has made NT an application server for Windows desktops.

Novell will also release more server-based Internet tools dedicated to boosting performance and offering user authentication.

With $1 billion in cash, Novell is also highly likely to buy its way deeper into the Internet/intranet space. Sadler-Smith said any acquisition activity would be most likely to take place towards the back of 1998.