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Phil Karren - Novell, Product Manager for GroupWise |
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Exclusive Interviews
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Our GroupWiseR reporter Sander van Vugt had an Exclusive Interview wit Phill Karren, one of the two Product Managers for GroupWise. Here are some quotes from this interview:
- "...Collaboration is the killer app for Linux. There is no serious collaboration suite for Linux yet, so GroupWise on Linux is something really unique...."
- "... personally I want to do everything it takes to help GroupWiseR. That's why I'm here on the Tour as well. ..."
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Q: Phil, can you tell something about yourself?
A: I’ve been a GroupWise Product Manager since August, 2005. My job is to think about functionality needed in future releases. To do this, I meet with customers, talk to our sales team and work with the marketing team and to make decisions about the future of GroupWise.
Q: How did you become Product Manager for GroupWise?
A: Before August 2005 I was self-employed. One of the things I did, was write sales proposals for super computer clusters. Then I was asked to become one of the product managers of GroupWise. I was asked by people for whom I have a lot of respect, so I agreed. In work it is very important to work with people you like and respect, so that's why I did it.
Q: As a PM of GroupWise, did you make any significant changes so far?
A: So far under I have been part of two important initiatives. The first of them is the GroupWise Mobile Server. The other one is the Novell Open Workgroup Suite in which GroupWise, ZenWorks, Linux and Open Office are bundled.
Q: And for the near future, what new changes can be foreseen?
A: We are working on two areas to fill out the workgroup offering. First of them is teaming technology. We want to facilitate users to work together in virtual teams. The other is real-time collaboration - the integration of voice and instant messaging in the platoform to allow people to work together in real time.
Q: Recently GroupWise has made a major shift from NetWare to Linux. Ho do you feel about that?
A: We are doing all we can to make sure that the path is clear. Collaboration is the killer app for Linux. There is no serious collaboration suite for Linux yet, so GroupWise on Linux is something really unique.
Q: That is good news for people that are already used to working with Linux, but how does the traditional customer who is running GroupWise on NetWare like it?
A: I believe there is a mix. Some have made the move. These people see what happens in the product offering and move right away. Many customers are very comfortable with NetWare and like to stay on that platform for a while. For some there's a lot of learning that has to happen. We're OK with that. We want to make sure that they can use NetWare as long as they like, and that will be possible as we are going to virtualize NetWare on the next version of OES. We’ll take good care of our NetWare customers.
Q: What about new GroupWise features, will they be all Linux or still available for NetWare as well?
A: We will support NetWare as long as we can, however it is inevitable that some features are Linux only. For example, we now have the open workgroup suite Linux only version. But normally new features in GroupWise should be platform independent.
Q: Do you have any figures about the NetWare/Linux market share for GroupWise?
A: That is difficult to say. I can make a rough guess: maybe half of the customers have some services running on Linux and are trying it out right now. Think for example of a few post offices in production and sometimes even a complete system. Novell itself is over halfway there, and most of the GroupWise system at Novell is running on Linux now.
Q: According to your vision, is there any functionality which isn't completely ready on Linux yet?
A: There are some areas that need to catch up. One of them is clustering, which is still better on NW than on Linux. There may be more areas, but i cant think of any them at the moment. In general we need to make people more confortable and make them feeling good with running GroupWise on Linux.
Q: What about the client: is in your opinion the GroupWise client as good on Linux as it is on Windows?
A: The reality is that the Windows client is the most functional. Over time we want to make the functionality consistent on any client so that no matter what platform you are using, the client offers the same capabilities. That involves a lot of work and we are not ready yet. It won't be Java. There's already a common engine that runs on Mac, Linux and Windows. One thing that we are going to do for the Aspen realease is an interactive web client. We can't however say yet when that release will be ready, no date has been set yet. Anyway it is our goal to create an open compelling alternative to what Microsoft is offering so we are working on it
Q: We have talked about people shifting GroupWise from NetWare to Linux. Do you also see people shifting from other collaboration platforms to GroupWise on Linux?
A: There are some small to mid-range customers who are looking for the best deal. These customers are implementing GroupWise on Linux. Since in the Novell Open Office Suite we have a very good deal to offer them, we are expecting more success in that market segment.
Q: Now let's talk a bit about the GroupwiseR initiative, how do you feel about that?
A: It is a very good initiative, personally I want to do everything it takes to help GroupWiseR. That's why I'm here on the tour as well. I'll also be at the summit this fall and my colleague Product Manager Bill Pray will be on the tour in France, Poland and Norway next week. As a company, Novell also thinks it is an important organization and a good way of making contact with the customers.
Q: What do you think of the tour so far?
A: It has been good, it is good to have a chance to talk to people that are into GroupWise. I like to get out of the office and meet my customers.
Q: Does an event like the tour give you any new ideas about GroupWise?
A: It allows me to test my thinking about future directions. I see the outline is good, but they provide some good details that allow me to fill in the gaps.
Q: Do you have any examples of that?
A: For example there are some CRM packages that they want to make sure we cover, we make sure that happens. There has been some request from local sales as well on commitment. Basically it is a good way to make sure that we are not missing anything.
Q: Well Phil thank you so far, I think we have pretty much covered everything we need to cover. Is there anything else you'd like to share.
A: Yes, as the GroupWise product team we are doing everything we can to make a good alternative for what Microsoft is offering. I think we are doing pretty well there and the reactions of people at the tour are confirming that. |
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