Digital Equipment Corp has boosted its multivendor customer services division with Novell Inc’s blessing to go forth and set up Novell-authorised centres throughout Europe. DEC claims it can now support more network operating systems than any other vendor, and for Novell, the deal is irresistible, although it may upset some existing channel partners – its customers have a new choice of service-provider, who can offer around-the-clock support from 14 general centres worldwide with 1,000 logistics stocking locations. The first three Novell authorised centres are UK-based, and being set up now in London, Warrington and Basingstoke to offer NetWare-related services on local network design, installation and operation. They will target major corporates in vertical markets, such as airlines British Airways Plc and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, building on recently-won contracts with Cathay Pacific Airways and Sabena Belgian Airlines. Each country will then choose specific areas; finance will be a priority in the UK, for example, pharmaceuticals and banks in Switzerland. DEC has high hopes for this division, which globally reaped $4,500m in 1992, representing 30% of total sales. It already has collaborative service contracts with Apple Computer Inc, Cisco Systems Inc, Chipcom Inc, IBM Corp, Microsoft Corp, Novell and Wyse Technology Inc. Shabtai Shaanani, DEC’s European sales director, said he would like to see more revenue coming from non-DEC business than from the installed base. The 6,000 engineers in Europe have been trained to be as adept on non-DEC systems as on the home-grown versions, and the sales force will go on commission for the first time in the bid to grab new business. They will, naturally, liaise with the hardware sales team, in order to capitalise on the hoped-for take-up of Alpha AXP RISC machines.
