The VAR Guy

When Novell announced a reorganization this week, The VAR Guy took some time to digest the news. He sipped his latte and mulled Novell’s stated direction. Now, our resident blogger is ready to weigh in with an opinion. Specifically, keep an eye on Novell Senior VP Joe Wagner. His partner ecosystem moves in 2010 will define whether Novell’s latest business strategy succeeds or fails. Here’s why.

Novell Chief Marketing Officer John Dragoon popped up in a surprising location this week. Dragoon, who also serves as Novell’s channel chief, wrote a column on Forbes.com. In it, Dragoon declares consumers will be the big winners in the operating system battles between Apple, Google, Microsoft and Linux. The column is an interesting read. And it begs the question: Is Novell prepping more SUSE Linux desktop and mobile moves? Here are some answers.

After a one-year hiatus, Novell plans to resume its BrainShare conference for customers and channel partners in 2010, according to Chief Marketing Officer and Channel Chief John Dragoon (pictured). Somewhere, SUSE Linux fans should be celebrating. Here’s why.

Seeking to be known as more than the SUSE Linux company, Novell today shed more light on its evolving partner program — which blankets the company’s complete product portfolio. The announcements tie together many of the clues Chief Marketing Officer John Dragoon provided to The VAR Guy back in January. Here’s a quick look at the news.

Chief Marketing Officer John Dragoon (pictured) clarified the status of Novell’s channel organization this morning, and disclosed former F5 Networks Channel Chief and Microsoft veteran Steve Hale has joined the company. Going forward, the following three people will be the key names driving Novell’s partner program.