News: Consulting for Small Business

Novell to Microsoft Migration

Shift in market share to Microsoft causes even more to switch

by Keith R. Wheeler

3/12/2006

When Responsive Network Service’s sister company, Wheeler, Inc., went into service almost fifteen years ago, a business-class computer network pretty much meant that Novell Netware was in use. Novell dominated the network operating system market much in the way that Lotus 1-2-3 dominated the spreadsheet market and WordPerfect also did the word processing software. As Microsoft watched Novell’s growth and margins, it wasn’t long before the giant from Redmond, Washington was making network operating systems that were improving with each release. Microsoft had one ace that Novell couldn’t match. Microsoft’s server products were based on the same type of code as their desktop operating systems. This meant that applications originally designed to run on Windows could, fairly easily, be ported to the server version and shared across a network. Novell, on the other hand, had developed a set of tools for code development that had nothing to do with Windows, but were very efficient as long as an error didn’t bring the entire server down. With supply following demand, along with Microsoft’s interminable marketing machine, Windows Server products made serious inroads into Novell’s market share (Novell held 63% in 1996 dropping to 10% in 2002 while Microsoft reached 55% that same year). At the same time, newer microprocessors began to dissipate Novell’s efficiency advantages over the rest of the network operating system players. In addition, Novell made some troubled acquisitions in the 1990’s which drained their cash flow and blurred their focus. All of this led to the ascension of the Microsoft Windows Server. Why the history lesson? There are still millions of servers worldwide running Novell operating systems. With their market share continuing to erode even as the company reinvents itself again, now as a Linux company, small businesses running Netware shouldn’t be afraid to look to new opportunities. If Novell is turning to Linux, how much more development will there be for their Netware line? Probably not much. If a business has to change its network operating system, it should evaluate the NOS landscape. If Microsoft will keep updating and upgrading its Small Business Server offering (in the face of competition from open source products such as Linux), small business will only benefit from their ease of management and increased feature sets. To discuss the benefits and costs of migrating from a Netware server to a Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003, feel free to contact your Responsive consultant. If your firm feels that its investment in Novell products is still yielding a good return, consider having Responsive support for that server and all of your information technology needs.