This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2006, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Novell speakers mixed football metaphors with a flurry of technical demos of their latest Linux offerings Friday to drive home its commitment to "open source" software development.
Jeff Hawkins, vice president for product management, told a Salt Palace Convention Center crowd of several hundred that the theme of Friday's closing BrainShare Global 2006 session was Novell's success in collaborating with the open-source software community.
"On Monday, we announced we are 'open for business.' On Wednesday, we announced we that we were 'open for growth,' ” said Hawkins, wearing a jersey from the Utah Blaze arena football team. Now “we are announcing we are 'wide open.' "
A parade of Novell executives and engineers followed, also clad in gridiron gear, tossing footballs and jerseys to those in the audience as they concluded program presentations.
Dale Olds, one of the original architects of Novell's eDirectory application, introduced the features of Bandit, one of the company's many worldwide, open-source cooperative projects.
Olds demonstrated how Novell customers could use a smart card containing encrypted user information and an everyday iPod - used as a sign-on data-backup device - to maintain security that is tough and convenient, whether working from the office or home.
The security suite strives to provide access that is uniform over multiple programs and computers, as well as one that is flexible and protected for managers.
Alan Murray, director of product management, showed how the latest in Novell's identity-management applications can seamlessly protect access to sensitive information while saving time and money.
Automation of document creation and management are the keys, he said.
Companies “have people coming and going, changing roles," Murray said. "Normally it takes hours and days to put together [access changes]. Within just a few seconds we [are] able to do that."
Among other demonstrations Friday was one highlighting Novell's openSUSE "build service," which allows independent developers to contribute software to both the commercial and free versions of SUSE Linux.
Novell, which employs about a third of its 5,000 employees in Utah, annually conducts its BrainShare conference in Salt Lake City. More than 6,000 computer executives and engineers attended this year's sessions, workshops and seminars.