Time is short! The early bird ticket for Open Horizons members is valid
until September 15, 2010. To this day all Open Horizons members can get
a GWAVACon ticket for EUR 250. After this deadline the regular ticket
price will be EUR 420 for Open Horizons members. Finally there are a
lot of new details regarding training, workshops and speakers available
online. So Dave Wilkes, Engineering Vice President Novell, will be
on-site at GWAVACon EMEA for the first time to talk about products,
visions and future plans in his keynote and guide you through his
workshops. Download the event flyer here. More information and the registration at www.GWAVACon.com
GWAVACon: Special price for OH-Members worldwide
Open
Horizons members are going to get a special discount for GWAVACon EMEA
2010. This huge event around the Novell product line is going to happen
again in Berlin from the 23rd to the 25th of October. Members will get
15 % discount both on the early bird price (295 Euro until End of
August) as well as on the normal price (495 Euro from 1st of september).
Open Horizons is going to be a sponsor at this event, we would be happy
to meet you there. GWAVACon information and registration here.....
GWAVA: Free Movie for BrainShare Attendees
Looking for something to do on Sunday evening before BrainShare begins?
Come join GWAVA and our partners for a free movie at the downtown
MegaPlex at the Gateway Mall, a walkable distance from the Salt Palace
Convention Center. GWAVA is offering free tickets to any BrainShare
attendees who wish to join us to watch the “Bounty Hunter,” starring
Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler. Seating is limited, so make sure
you register to reserve your spot as soon as possible.
Exclusive Interview with Jeff Hawn, Chairman and CEO of Attachmate
May 4, 2011 -Gert
ter Burg, one of the Board Members of Open Horizons Benelux and proud
owner of GWCheck.com, has had the opportunity to talk with Jeff Hawn,
Chairman and CEO of Attachmate. The result is a rather unique interview
with the leader of The Attachmate Group, who recently acquired Novell
and under his leadership transformed that into 4 different business
units.
Win a Exclusive Weekend for Two @ Pincoffs Suite Hotel
The Pincoffs Suite Hotel is a small luxury hotel. It resides in a national monument built in 1879 in the area currently called Kop van Zuid, the trendy Rotterdam
left bank. The former customs office is full of atmosphere and
authentic details. The hotel offers you charm, space and comfort in our
suites, luxury rooms, hotel bar and period rooms for meetings. The view
of the river, the bridges and the skyline is breathtaking.
Register today to be entered into our drawing for a wonderful Weekend for Two @ Pincoffs - the best Suite Hotel in Rotterdam!
GWAVA is running a survey about using Apple products in GroupWise environments. Answer their short survey for a chance to win one of the world's largest gummy bears. (You know you want one.) Five pounds of gummy bear goodness could be yours for answering this short survey, so fill out the survey at http://vovici.com/wsb.dll/s/10c1eg4844d
GroupLink Announces FREE Service Desk Solution for Open Horizons Members
VIENNA, Nov. 29, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- GroupLink Corporation, makers of the first ZENworks 10 integrated service desk, the "everything HelpDesk" (eHD), announced the upcoming release of its free service desk solution at the 2010 Open Horizons EMEA Summit. This free solution, slated to release by 31 January 2011, is an exclusive offer for all Open Horizons Members. This announcement comes as GroupLink shows its commitment to the EMEA market and the members of Open Horizons, the largest Novell user community in the world.
!!! FREE Service Desk Solution for Open Horizons Members !!!
Open Horizons Visit to RIM HQ – BES 5.0.1 for GW available in October?!
Prolog: Preparing our Visit to Waterloo
When
Erno looks at his large collection of PDA's and phones, he always
remembers his first experience with a BlackBerry. In those days it was
really for the “happy few” and being able to even touch and use such a
exquisite device with the full QWERTY keyboard made you forget all the
clumsiness of some other devices. When Volkmar is looking at the latest
BES 5.0.1 for GroupWise server, which is still in beta of course, he can
not wait to see the response from his customers when he deploys it for
them.
Open Horizons UK now has a Facebook page, why not follow us and be kept right up to date with the latest news? Go to our page now for further details and for sign up! We'll post details of upcoming events, offers and partner news right here, so don't wait!
IT in Action Tour Slides Now Available
The slide decks are now available for the IT in Action sessions held in June and July in Edinburgh and Bletchley Park. To download them, click this link
Registration for EMEA Summit is now OPEN!
Today, on April 30, on request of
may people within the communit ("You are late this year?!")
we have opened the registration for the EMEA Summit 2010,
which will run in Vienna (AT) from Sunday November 28
until Wednesday December 1. And within a few minutes the first
registration was already made by Peter Wachs (DE) -
finally after 5 years he has beaten Hans Prim (SE) in being "Number
One"!
BrainShare SLC started yesterday. The opening keynote included a number of
product announcements relating to IDM v4, ZCM as an appliance, Conferencing and
the unveiling of Novell Pulse. Everyone attending BrainShare has received a Pulse
account, and can invite five colleagues to join them! You can stay in touch with what's happening at BrainShare in a number
of ways. This URL summarises them all succinctly:
So
if you didn't manage to get to Salt Lake then why not go to BrainShare Amsterdam
in May? The good news is that the discount code obtained by Open Horizons
currently gives you a full 20% off the early bird price. So act now and get into BrainShare for just 556 Euro (+VAT). As
I said previously this is great value for 3 days training and access to senior Novell management and Product teams. Please contact us at
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if
you wish to register using the discount code.
Thirdly, 2 advance dates
for your diaries. This year Open Horizons is hosting the Novell IT IN Action
tour events, and two of them will be run in the UK. The first event on 30 June
will be held in Edinburgh while the second takes place a week later on 7 July at
Bletchley Park (close to Milton Keynes). While a lot of the planning remains to
be completed both of these events will be packed to the brim with great content,
so start making plans now to attend one or both!
Follow Us On Twitter!
You can now follow Open Horizons UK by going to http://twitter.com/oh_uk - follow us now and keep up to date with all the latest plans, news and events.
Register For BrainShare EMEA With Open Horizons And Get a Free Gift!
If you plan on registering for Novell BrainShare EMEA 2010 , why not register via the Open Horizons EMEA site and get a free gift when you collect your conference pass? What's the catch? There isn't one! It's just our way of saying thank you and it's much better than a discount code! Visit our EMEA site now for further details and registration.
Happy New Year!
All at Open Horizons UK wish our members a happy new year, and we look forward to another year chock full of Open Horizons Events, the return of BrainShare EMEA to Amsterdam and other vendor events, such as the GWAVACon Tour and IT in Action. All in all, there is a lot to get your teeth into!
The board at OH-UK has been working hard over the holidays looking at event dates for the coming year, and also looking at ways to build on the success of such events as the Open Horizons UK Summit event in Oxford, where the delegate numbers continue to increase year on year, and the content just gets better and better!
2009 saw a successful launch of Open Horizons UKin Bracknell, we're pleased to say that several other European NUI and GroupWise groups have now joined the party to create OH chapters in their countries too - we in the UK are just a small part of a big movement. As well as our Birmingham event, we also had a good turnout for our Open Horizons Tour and Summit event in Oxford, and the year closing EMEA Summit in Vienna had over 120 delegates - the biggest yet.
Plans are now afoot for the 2010 kick off meeting, to be held most likely in late February. Stay tuned to the website for more details. We are also looking for members to present success stories on implementing Novell technologies - you may have already seen East Sussex Fire & Rescue services talk about their success with Novell Teaming, why not come along and share your experiences? If you are interested, please drop us a line at
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Open Horizons Tour - Event Slides Available
Thanks to all who attended this year's Open Horizons Tour & Summit event at the Four Pillars Hotel, Oxford. Feedback from delegates has been excellent, and we look forward to providing more of the same next year! Registration numbers for the two day Summit event were more than double last years, and we're already looking at ways of making this growing event even better in 2010! For those who attended the Tour event, slide decks are now available here (those who attended the Summit event can download the lab slides seperately from open-horizons.net)
Planning has already commenced for 2010's event, and with the return of BrainShare to Europe in May, there is a lot to look forward to! Stay tuned to find out details of our next event, most likely in the London area in January.
July Event Slides Now Available
The slides from the July meeting at Austin Court are now available from here. The slide deck includes the following presentations :-
Novell Teaming 2 - Robin Redgrave
SSH - Roger Whittaker
AutoYAST - Adam Spiers
The GroupWise Powerguide - Second Edition - Now Available @ Amazon
The English version of The Groupwise Powerguide- Second Edition became
available early May 2009. This completely new version contains a lot of
tips and tricks about GroupWise covering versions 8.0 as well as 7.0.
This book will take everyone who is already working with GroupWise to
the next level. Now includes Business Scenarios and valuable content in 216 topics, all in more than 300 pages. Great value for money - guaranteed to optimize your investment in GroupWise - this book will make you and your organization more effective and efficient.
Buy this book to Support the Community - Profits will further strengthen Open Horizons.
The next Open Horizons UK Meeting will take place at Austin Court, Birmingham on Wednesday 15th July 2009. On the agenda this time around will be sessions on the following topic areas :-
We are fortunate to have sessions delivered by Brian Green, Adam Spiers and Robin Redgrave from Novell UK, as well as presenters from partners such as Salford Software and Vitell. Also, for the first time, we will be having a "Bring Your Own Laptop" session, installing Linux! There are two half day sessions, running in parallel with the presentation tracks where you can lock yourself in a room and have a play around with Linux at your own pace, in a relaxed and supportive environment with your peers. Whether you are an expert or absolute beginner, these sessions are your ideal chance to get away from phones and e-mails and get back to getting your hands dirty.
Current Event Agenda
9.15 – 10.00
Registration
LAB
SLES Installfest – just
BYOL
10.00 – 10.15
Introduction
10.15 – 11.00
Novell keynote
Brian Green, Novell UK Ltd
11.00 – 11.15
TC&B
11.15 – 12.00
Using Domain Services for Windows – a real example
David Guest, Salford Software Ltd
12.00 – 12.45
SSH – more than just logging in
Roger Whittaker, Novell UK Ltd
12.45 – 13.30
Lunch
LAB
SLES Installfest – just
BYOL
13.30 – 14.15
Autoyast – automated server builds
Adam Spiers, Novell UK Ltd
14.15 – 15.00
Asterisk – open source telephony
Nicholas Barnes - Vitell
15.00 – 15.15
TC&B
15.15 – 16.00
Teaming v2 – new look, new features.
Robin Redgrave, Novell UK Ltd
16.00 – 16.15
Q&A /Prize draw /
Close
Registration for this event is now open, click here for further information. Please note this is a members only event, non-members are subject to a fee of £99 per delegate.
Open Horizons UK Launch Event Slides Available
The presentation slides from the highly successful Open Horizons UK event are now available for download. See below for the sessions and links, and keep a close eye on the site for details on our next event in Birmingham in July!
The launch event of the new UK Open Horizons Group
at Novell UK, Bracknell last week was a big success!
A meeting of over 80 customers, partners and Novell employees saw presentations on GroupWise, Teaming + Conferencing, SLES and more over the day.
As well as many previous Groupware User Group members, the event attracted new organisations from outside the GroupWise market and also partners such as ENGL, who are new to the group.
It was also announced on the day that the membership packages are to change, based on personal or corporate membership and also latterly, on the number of contacts required. Now for the first time, it is possible to join Open Horizons online by clicking the button at the top of the home page.
Our next event will be on Wednesday 8th July, arrangements are now taking place for a suitable venue and also content for the day. For the first time, we are also hoping to hold morning and afternoon BYOL (Bring Your Own Laptop) sessions away from the main presentation track. This is your big opportunity to lock yourself in a room with others and get your hands dirty with SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop and Server 11!
Stay tuned for further news on this event and also the upcoming GWAVACon UK events and the three day Open Horizons UK Summit. Join now to be part of the fun!
Event slides will be available from the day soon.
PlateSpin Forge’s ahead in disaster recovery
PlateSpin
has announced the release of a disaster recovery hardware appliance,
PlateSpin Forge, to protect physical and virtual server workloads. John
Ko, product marketing manager for PlateSpin told CRN that PlateSpin
Forge is the company’s first offering specifically targeting the
disaster recovery market. He added that the purpose-built recovery
solution includes prepackaged and preconfigured hardware, software and
virtual infrastructure, addressing issues faced by both SMBs and
enterprise.
US Supreme Court Won't Hear Microsoft's Novell Appeal
The US Supreme Court has refused to hear Microsoft's appeal of Novell's multibillion-dollar antitrust suit against it. The news hit just as Novell's annual BrainShare user conference was
getting starting. Basically a private replay of the Justice
Department's suit against Microsoft, the case involves Novell's claims
that Microsoft targeted WordPerfect and QuattroPro to protect its
operating system monopoly.
Novell - strong results as the company finally sees its efforts rewarded
Last
week Novell unveiled its result for the first quarter of fiscal 2008.
Net revenue was $231m (including $7m positive impact from currency
exchange rates). Income from operations was $8m ($24m non-GAAP or 10%
of revenue, up from a negative 1% a year ago). Non-GAAP net income was
$29m. Comment: Novell has spent the last few years pulling itself up
and improving execution but had, until recently, very little to show
for it. This is no longer the case. The last few quarters have been
increasingly impressive with Novell starting to exceed consensus
estimates, leading to a strong first quarter of fiscal 2008, with total
revenue up 6% and product revenue up 9%.
Novell
announced Feb. 25 that it will acquire Toronto-based virtualization
management software and services provider PlateSpin Ltd. for $205
million in cash. It was the second acquisition Novell has revealed in
12 days. The Waltham, Mass.-based enterprise software maker bought
open-source team collaboration software provider SiteScape -- founder
of the ICEcore open-source collaboration project -- on Feb. 13.
Novell has acquired SiteScape, a provider of collaboration
solutions and the founder of the ICEcore open source collaboration
project. The merger between the two companies will create
interoperable, open source and open standards-based workspaces to help
with team productivity. Financial terms of the deal were not released
but SiteScape would become a fully owned subsidiary of Novell and all
the employees will fold into Novell's ranks. Also, the SiteScape brand
will no longer exist as part of the acquisition.
vCard automates the exchange of personal information typically found on a traditional business card. vCard is used in applications such as Internet mail, voice mail, Web browsers, telephony applications, call centers, video conferencing, PIMs (Personal Information Managers), PDAs (Personal Data Assistants), pagers, fax, office equipment, and smart cards. vCard information goes way beyond simple text, and includes elements like pictures, company logos, live Web addresses, and so on.
vCalendar defines a transport and platform-independent format for exchanging calendaring and scheduling information in an easy, automated, and consistent manner. It captures information about event and "to-do" items that are normally used by applications such as a personal information managers (PIMs) and group schedulers. Programs that use vCalendar can exchange important data about events so that you can schedule meetings with anyone who has a vCalendar-aware program.
Novell invites you for their Data Synchronizer Survey
As
the Novell Data Synchronizer team's has adopted a new agile product
development model, they are serious about responding quickly to
customer's greatest needs. So please fill out this survey and enter to win 1 of 10 Amazon gift cards valued from $25 to $100.
The Attachmate Group Completes Acquisition of Novell
HOUSTON – April 27, 2011 – The Attachmate Group today announced the
completion of the acquisition of Novell, Inc., a leader in intelligent
workload management, under the terms of the definitive agreement
disclosed on November 22, 2010. Novell will now operate as two separate
business units under the Novell® and SUSE® brand names and join
Attachmate® and NetIQ® as holdings of The Attachmate Group.
Marketplace: The One-Stop-Shop for Data Synchronizer Connectors
To
make it easier for you to take advantage of the real-time
synchronization capabilities that Novell Data Synchronizer provides
between different applications and mobile devices, the Data Synchronizer
Marketplace Web site is now available at www.novell.com/marketplace.
The Marketplace provides a place for customers to get the latest
information on available Data Synchronizer connectors, find out what
connectors will be available soon and request connectors that they need.
Developers and vendors can use the Marketplace to promote their
connectors, make them more accessible, learn what connectors their
customers want them to develop and download the connector SDK.
Join the Vibe - Welcome to Our Vibe Tour - Soon in Your Area!
Novell Vibe is the next-generation social collaboration platform for the enterprise that's available both in the cloud and on-premise. Vibe
brings together the team collaboration and social business products formerly known as Novell Teaming and Pulse to make it easier for people to work together and drive better & faster business results. It offers next-generation capabilities such as real-time social messaging and online document co-editing along with file management, groups, profiles, workflow, and security and management controls.
Novell
is pleased to announce the availability of Novell File Management Suite
Assessment to all customers worldwide. Now customers can get the
benefits of a 60-day, full-functionality trial of all products in the
Novell File Management Suite. This offering replaces Novell File
Reporter Assessment, which allowed customers to deploy only one product
for 60 days. Novell is giving greater value to partners and customers
with this enhanced offering.
A lot of people are wondering what will happen to BrainShare USA with the pending Attachmate acquisition, here is some news from the official BrainShare website:
"Many of you have asked what the November 22, 2010 acquisition announcement means for BrainShare in 2011. Based on recent events and customer feedback, we have decided to delay planning for BrainShare 2011. We will announce plans for BrainShare at a later date. Check back here for future BrainShare communications."
Re: Attachmate commitment to Novell and SUSE products
Since the announcement of our intent to acquire Novell, we have received a number of questions regarding our plans for supporting Novell products. I know that during this period between the announcement and closing, there are more questions than answers, and I am sensitive to the challenges that this uncertainty may create for Novell customers and partners. I want to take this opportunity to be clear about the commitments we make to all of our customers.
Novell Vibe, the next-generation social collaboration platform that's available on-premise and in the cloud, was announced at Enterprise 2.0 last month - creating a lot of press coverage, customer interest and beneficial buzz. Novell Vibe brings together the products formerly known as Novell Teaming (now Novell Vibe OnPrem) and Novell Pulse (now Novell Vibe Cloud) to help organizations drive better and faster business results.
The news is out - Novell to be acquired by Attachmate
Monday November 22 - the news is out - Novell will be taken over by Attachmate for USD 2.2 billion - meanwhile part of the deal was a sale of intellectual property rights for USD 450 million to CPTN Holding, a consortium of technologies companies lead by Microsoft Corporation. Will this be good or bad news for Novell customers and partners? This remains to be seen - Novell might be in a safe-heaven now or being eaten by vultures - it will at least mean that there will be a lot of news around Novell in the next few weeks.
Novell Agrees to be Acquired by Attachmate Corporation
Novell, Inc. (NASDAQ: NOVL), the leader in intelligent workload management, today announced that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement under which Attachmate Corporation would acquire Novell for $6.10 per share in cash in a transaction valued at approximately $2.2 billion. Attachmate Corporation is owned by an investment group led by Francisco Partners, Golden Gate Capital and Thoma Bravo. Novell also announced it has entered into a definitive agreement for the concurrent sale of certain intellectual property assets to CPTN Holdings LLC, a consortium of technology companies organized by Microsoft Corporation, for $450 million in cash, which cash payment is reflected in the merger consideration to be paid by Attachmate Corporation.
Google is ending development on Wave. So what about Pulse?
A logical question Novell has already been asked is “does Novell plan
to continue development of its real-time, enterprise communication and
collaboration solution, Novell Pulse?”
The answer is an emphatic Yes. At Novell, they hear from enterprise
users that they need the combination of social connections, rich
profiles, real-time co-authoring and their ever-present files in order
to make it easier to work together and actually produce better results.
Novell Pulse delivers this combination that business consumers want,
plus the security controls enterprises demand. Novell is highly
committed to the future of enterprise collaboration, and Novell Pulse is
on track. Further, they remain committed to pursuing the benefits of
real-time collaboration to enable new applications, users and
organizations to work together.
Today, Novell announced that its Data Synchronizer product is now
shipping with a GroupWise connector. Specifically this means that Novell
GroupWise now syncs to Microsoft SharePoint and other third-party
applications including Salesforce.com and SugarCRM.
SUSE Studio from Novell Wins 2010 American Business Award
Novell
announced SUSE Studio has been granted the 2010 American Business Award
for Best New Product or Service * Computer Hardware or Services. SUSE
Studio is a free, Web‑based solution that allows users to quickly build
complete software appliances in just minutes. SUSE Studio allows for
mass customization and provides a bridge to the cloud, enabling software
vendors and end users to build unique yet fully supported
configurations of the operating system that run in physical, virtual and
cloud environments.
Dean
Lythgoe, Director Engineering GroupWise at Novell, posted some
information about the availability of the new Datasynchronizer within
his Novell blog.....
BES 5.0.1 Public Beta - Announced by Alex Evans (Novell)
Great news to share this week. I (Alex Evans, Novell) got a call from my counterpart at RIM
and they are releasing a public beta of their BES 5.0.1 for GroupWise.
We have been running 5.0.1 in house for a number of months as part of
the early adopter program, so we have been validating it against the
latest GroupWise agents.
Novell Conferencing—a cost-effective, easy-to-use web conferencing solution—is now available.
Novell Conferencing helps organizations reduce travel costs by
instantly sharing documents, web pages, whiteboards, audio and
video—even recording meetings—without any participant software to
install. Novell Conferencing is also the only solution that integrates
with Novell GroupWise. While users are in their GroupWise mailbox, they
can simply click on a Novell Messenger (formerly GroupWise Messenger)
icon to schedule or instantly launch a web conference.
Time is short! The early bird ticket for Open Horizons members is valid
until September 15, 2010. To this day all Open Horizons members can get
a GWAVACon ticket for EUR 250. After this deadline the regular ticket
price will be EUR 420 for Open Horizons members. Finally there are a
lot of new details regarding training, workshops and speakers available
online. So Dave Wilkes, Engineering Vice President Novell, will be
on-site at GWAVACon EMEA for the first time to talk about products,
visions and future plans in his keynote and guide you through his
workshops. 
Looking for something to do on Sunday evening before BrainShare begins?
Come join GWAVA and our partners for a free movie at the downtown
MegaPlex at the Gateway Mall, a walkable distance from the Salt Palace
Convention Center. GWAVA is offering free tickets to any BrainShare
attendees who wish to join us to watch the “Bounty Hunter,” starring
Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler. Seating is limited, so make sure
you register to reserve your spot as soon as possible. 
Register today
en Horizons UK now has a Facebook page, why not follow us and be kept right up to date with the latest news? Go to 
You can now follow Open Horizons UK by going to
If you plan on registering for 
The next Open Horizons UK Meeting will take place at 
PlateSpin
has announced the release of a disaster recovery hardware appliance,
PlateSpin Forge, to protect physical and virtual server workloads. John
Ko, product marketing manager for PlateSpin told CRN that PlateSpin
Forge is the company’s first offering specifically targeting the
disaster recovery market. He added that the purpose-built recovery
solution includes prepackaged and preconfigured hardware, software and
virtual infrastructure, addressing issues faced by both SMBs and
enterprise. 
The US Supreme Court has refused to hear Microsoft's appeal of Novell's multibillion-dollar antitrust suit against it. The news hit just as Novell's annual BrainShare user conference was
getting starting. Basically a private replay of the Justice
Department's suit against Microsoft, the case involves Novell's claims
that Microsoft targeted WordPerfect and QuattroPro to protect its
operating system monopoly. 
Novell
announced Feb. 25 that it will acquire Toronto-based virtualization
management software and services provider PlateSpin Ltd. for $205
million in cash. It was the second acquisition Novell has revealed in
12 days. The Waltham, Mass.-based enterprise software maker bought
open-source team collaboration software provider SiteScape -- founder
of the ICEcore open-source collaboration project -- on Feb. 13. 
A lot of people are wondering what will happen to BrainShare USA with the pending Attachmate acquisition, here is some news from the official BrainShare website:
Novell Conferencing—a cost-effective, easy-to-use web conferencing solution—is