Fast Breaks Newsfront: May 14, 2001

Free at Last

Novell plans to give its eDirectory technology away for free. CEO Eric Schmidt said developers, hardware makers and software companies could make use of eDirectory. Novell, which is merging with Cambridge Technology Partners, hopes to make eDirectory a standard in the face of competition from Microsofts Active Directory.

Brit Split

British Telecommunications plans to spin off its wireless business as a separate public company later this year. Also, the British giant is seeking a way to stem losses at Concert, a joint venture with AT&T that lost $250 million in the first quarter of the year. BT may sell its wholesale Internet division to AT&T.

Open Access

High Speed Access last week became the third national Internet service provider to sign a deal with AOL Time Warner for access over the giants cable pipes. HSA, fueled by investment from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, had 140,000 cable modem subscribers at the end of the first quarter.

New Rules

Microsoft is changing the rules for its software sales, effective Oct. 1. Prices are expected to remain unchanged or perhaps drop for about 80 percent of corporate customers. But for those that upgrade software only every couple of years, costs could rise significantly. The changes may help rivals win Microsoft customers, some said Friday.

Shift at the Top

Nortel Networks CEO John Roth is working on finding his successor, with plans to have one in place by his April 2002 retirement. Roths involvement in the search will grow following the announcement Friday that Chief Operating Officer Clarence Chandran, already on medical leave, has resigned to focus on recovering. The troubled Canadian giant also is closing its DSL division.