Novell to launch NetWare 6 in September

Novell plans to launch NetWare 6 in September and Onward Novell, the Indian joint venture is gearing itself up for pre-launch activities. To start with, technology boot camps are being organized in major cities across the country.

Compaq has joined hands with Novell for five boot camps since the latter believes that some of the special features of NetWare 6 push Compaq's servers to their limit. A total of nine cities are being covered with the camps.

Pre-launch partner and customer briefings with systems running on NetWare 6 are being planned. This is to ensure that users have the touch and feel of the product before it arrives in the market.

Talking on the strategies that Onward Novell will adopt to ramp up sales at a time when market has slowed down, Satyen Parikh, Area Director, Indian Subcontinent, says that users attach seriousness to their buying when the market is sluggish. "This seriousness leads to closer evaluation of the product and that is where we are sure to gain," says he.

Satyen says NetWare 6 will enable enterprises to embrace the Net in an efficient and secure way to enhance their businesses. He is confident that the sales will gather momentum immediately on launch since Novell has a very large installed base already in the country.

Onward Novell wants to make the product affordable to users and at the same time, wants partners to earn good margins. However, the pricing is yet to be decided. Says Satyen, "Our teams are out in the market on a fact-finding mission. We want to arrive at the right pricing which should compel users to say, 'Yes, this price-point is the right one for me to buy the product'."