Novell Enhances On-Line Technical Support Offerings

Customers Access Novell's Electronic Technical Services More Than 3.5 Million Times Monthly

OREM, Utah -- May 8, 1995 --Novell today detailed the company's expansion of on-line technical support services, highlighting Novell's strategy of providing electronic support options that allow customers to be more productive, increase self-reliance and reduce technical support out-of-pocket expenses. Chief among the elements of the announcement was the consolidation of electronic-based technical resources from Novell, Inc., WordPerfect Corporation, the Quattro Pro business and SoftSolutions Inc., providing the industry's most comprehensive set of electronic services and tools.

Other enhancements include branding Novell NetWire as the name of the company's technical support presence on all major on-line services; expanding Novell's strategy to broadly place Novell NetWire on additional on-line services; creating dynamically updated "Top 20" lists based on customer usage; increasing the number of forums maintained on CompuServe; and other initiatives that make the company's services easier to learn and use.

"Novell has always had an extremely active relationship with its customers via on-line technical support, but further advancements in technology and management expertise have immensely increased our customers' use of and satisfaction with these services," said John Lewis, senior vice president of Novell Technical Services (NTS). "We expect this rapid increase in usage to continue as we also continue to innovatively enhance our electronic support solutions."

The increased customer usage of Novell's electronic technical services is evidence that customers find value in the services provided by Novell. Accesses to Novell's electronic technical support services increased more than 500 percent between March 94 and March 95.

"In March 1994, we received around 600,000 accesses to our electronic technical services," said Michael Bishop, director of Electronic Support at Novell Technical Services. "This March, we topped 3.5 million accesses, and the upward trend is accelerating monthly."

Novell recently consolidated the technical information for all major company products and is now branding Novell NetWire as the name of the company's technical support presence on all major on-line services. Novell NetWire is currently on the Internet, CompuServe, and SpaceWorks. The company's strategy includes aggressively reviewing all on-line services for possible placement of Novell NetWire content. The current review includes America Online, Interchange, Prodigy and expansion of the company's presence on SpaceWorks. Novell plans on placing Novell NetWire on AT&T NetWare Connect Services (ANCS) when the service is available.

Novell NetWire provides online access to technical, corporate and product information from Novell through remote access 24 hours-a-day. Novell NetWire includes message forums, easily searchable online databases and libraries of downloadable files. Novell NetWire is best known for providing quick, inexpensive access to technical solutions from experienced system operators (SYSOPS) and other knowledgeable users. Technical questions posted on Novell NetWire usually receive a response within 24 hours. Advanced questions are routed through Novell's direct technical resources, the same resources used to solve hotline support problems.

Novell has also created two "Top 20" lists on Novell NetWire. These lists provide customers with the top 20 Technical Information Documents (TIDS) and top 20 downloadable files based on customer access to each Novell NetWire on-line service. Automatically updated according to customer usage, the "Top 20" lists represent the most common technical solutions delivered on-line to customers by Novell.

Additional expansion of Novell's electronic technical support offering includes adding 11 public forums on CompuServe, where information on all Novell Business Applications, GroupWare and Consumer Products will be maintained by Novell. Novell NetWire is also receiving an updated look, as Novell switches from the current bookshelf metaphor interface to an icon-based interface.

Novell's electronic technical support offering aligns with the company's vision of pervasive computing by providing Novell's service partners, large accounts, customers and technical support engineers with access to comprehensive technical information on Novell products, anytime, anyplace. Novell is establishing the electronic support programs and delivery vehicles required to provide technical assistance to a billion users worldwide by the year 2000.