gnu-misc-discuss
[Top][All Lists]
Advanced

[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Novell-MS Pact: "Microsoft remains committed to its interoperability


From: Alexander Terekhov
Subject: Re: Novell-MS Pact: "Microsoft remains committed to its interoperability agreement with JBoss"
Date: Fri, 24 Nov 2006 18:53:25 +0100

<side note>

Hovsepian is 17 years IBM veteran.

from "Novell Names Ron Hovsepian To Succeed Jack Messman as CEO"

------
He joined Novell in June 2003 as president of North America, and has led
the transformation of global field operations since May 2005.
Previously, Hovsepian held management and executive positions at IBM
Corporation over a 17-year period, including serving as worldwide
general manager of IBMÂ’s distribution industries, where he managed
global hardware and software development, sales, marketing and services.
With stints in various sales and marketing positions prior to taking
profit and loss responsibility at several IBM units, he has a proven
track record of achieving revenue goals and profit growth in the IT
solutions business.

He also served as a managing director of Internet Capital Group, a
venture capital firm. Hovsepian is currently non-executive Chairman of
the Board of Directors of the Ann Taylor Corporation. He received a
Bachelor of Science degree from Boston College.

[June 22, 2006]
------

from
http://www.forbes.com/finance/mktguideapps/personinfo/FromPersonIdPersonTearsheet.jhtml?passedPersonId=937221

------
Ronald W Hovsepian

CEO/President/COO/Director at
Novell, Inc.
Waltham, Massachusetts
TECHNOLOGY / SECURITY SOFTWARE & SERVICES
Officer since June 2003
Director since June 2006                
Financial data from Hemscott

45 years old

Ronald W. Hovsepian, Novell's President and Chief Operating Officer
since November 2005, joined Novell in June 2003 as President, Novell
North America. From May 2005 to November 2005, Mr. Hovsepian served as
Executive Vice President and President, Worldwide Field Operations.
Before coming to Novell, Mr. Hovsepian was a Managing Director with Bear
Stearns Asset Management, a technology venture capital fund, from
February to December 2002. From March 2000 to February 2002, Mr.
Hovsepian served as Managing Director for Internet Capital Group, a
venture capital firm. Prior to that, Mr. Hovsepian served in a number of
executive positions with IBM over a 17-year period. Mr. Hovsepian is
also the non-executive chairman of the board of directors of Ann Taylor
Corporation.

 Cash Compensation (FY October 2005)
 Salary $500,020 
 Bonus  $416,000 
 Latest FY other short-term comp.       $0 
 Latest FY other long-term comp.        $2,288,815 
 Latest FY long-term incentive payout   $0 
 Total  $3,204,835 

 Stock Options (FY October 2005)
        Number of options   Market value 
 exercised            n/a            n/a 
 unexercised      451,041     $1,783,330 
 unexercisable    760,959       $720,920 
 Total          1,212,000     $2,504,250 
------

</side note>

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2062428,00.asp

--------
Asked why Novell CEO Ron Hovsepian had done this deal, which would
probably have been unthinkable under former CEO Jack Messman, Dragoon
said Hovsepian has a background of working at the forefront of the
customer agenda and knows what they were looking for. 

He made the call to Microsoft that was the catalyst for this deal. 

"That is what customers were asking for," he said. 

It's also important to note that Novell is not taking criticism from all
sides, but rather from just one of its five stakeholder communities, he
said. 

"Of the customer, partner, employee, investor and community
stakeholders, four of them think this is the absolute right thing to do.
This is an agreement that advances the customer agreement, and I have
yet to have a conversation with a client who thinks it is a bad deal.
The same can be said for most investors, partners and employees,"
Dragoon said. 

But it also appears unlikely that Microsoft is going to back off voicing
its assessment of the deal, especially the view that the deal is a
validation of the fact that Linux infringes on its intellectual
property. 

Asked if Microsoft plans to be a little less vocal about how it views
the deal, Kaefer said that whatever the company said was looked at very
carefully, "but I do think it is important for us to be transparent
about our views, and we have been unapologetic about the need to share
these with Novell and the community," he said. 

But Kaefer added that the unique aspect of its deal with Novell is that
it does not just relate to proprietary products, but to open-source ones
as well. 

The fundamental trick is to do that in a way that gives customers
assurance but does not get in the way of what the open source is all
about: its development culture and licensing model, he said. 

"I do think there is a bit of a double-edged standard here where,
frankly, there are several corporate backers who are so strongly behind
much of the success of the open source community and who have been
licensing patents for years and years. 

"There is a certain recognition among large enterprises that this is a
normal and appropriate way of doing things as it promotes collaboration
as opposed to getting in the way of it," Kaefer said. 

Microsoft would also continue to reach out to Red Hat about a similar
deal, even though the Linux vendor has rejected that, because they have
shared customers who could benefit from such a deal, Kaefer said, noting
that Microsoft remains committed to its interoperability agreement with
JBoss. 
--------

:-)

regards,
alexander.


reply via email to

[Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread]