Press Release

Novell Partners With Secondary Schools Across America to Provide Computer Network Training to Students

World Leader in Networking and Technology Education Teams with Public Partners to Provide Networking Tools and Training to Schools

Washington, D.C. -- October 1, 1997 -- This fall, while some students use school computers to type their "how I spent my summer vacation" essays, others are installing, configuring and maintaining the Novell network that connects the computers and links them to the Internet. This trend toward high-tech career education is due in part to the efforts of Novell, Inc., the world leader in networking software, and it reflects the emphasis placed by the company on public-private partnerships. These partnerships, becoming more pervasive across the U.S. computer software industry, are the main topic of discussion at the Senate Forum on Education Technology: The Public-private Partnership, meeting this week in Washington, D.C.

In an example of the power of public-private partnerships, Novell sponsored a program initiated by the Foundation for Educational Innovation (FEI), an institution focused on providing both technology literacy and life skill preparation to students in the Washington, D.C. area. The program equipped Ballou High School, an inner-city school in Washington, D.C., with the technology needed to transform computer networks into educational tools, while providing students with the training and skills needed for successful careers in the fast-growing field of computer networking. The partnership program was so successful that Novell recently made a $100,000 software donation to FEI to further support programs into the surrounding Washington, D.C. area schools.

"Ballou high school shows that public-private partnerships work," said Dan Burton, V.P. of Government Relations for Novell, Inc. "The next step is to leverage this experience into a national program."

The majority of Novell's grants and programs are structured around their Novell Education Academic Partner-Secondary (NEAP-Secondary) program designed to train high school students to manage, administer, and maintain computer networks. Recognizing that preparation of the teachers was the biggest obstacle in bringing Novell's industry-leading training to secondary- school students, Novell recently awarded "Teach for Tomorrow" grants to 100 schools. The grants give free Certified Novell Instructor (CNI) training to faculty and designate schools as NEAP sites authorized to provide Novell training. Training from the NEAP sites may lead students to Certified Novell Administrator (CNA) and Certified Novell Engineer (CNE) certifications which have become worldwide passports to lucrative networking careers. The schools also receive significant discounts on Novell networking software.

"By training the school faculty first, Novell helps the school build the infrastructure to stay in partnership with us for years to come." said Kent Christensen, academic programs manager for Novell Education. "The educators prepare students with valuable real-world skills that are marketable worldwide. Novell, on the other hand, provides the curriculum that allows students to obtain a Novell certification -- a driver's license for a career on the information superhighway."

In another successful public-private partnership, Novell worked with educators to develop summer programs for both students and teachers in Kern County, California, help local schools prepare for the 1997 school year. Seven Kern county students completed a CNA course that taught them how to handle day-to-day computer networking activities, such as backing up and securing the system, assigning user identification and passwords. Kern County hired two of the students who passed the CNA test to work with the resident CNEs and user support staff, giving the county qualified support personnel and the students valuable experience.

  • The youngest student, eight-year-old Ryan White, was so excited about the training he set up a network at home with his family's three computers. "He loved the class," said his mother, Sandy White. "He just ate it up." The fifth-grader manages the network at Robert P. Ulrich Elementary.
  • Eleven-year-old Kyle Brottlund, the second-youngest student in the Kern county summer program, plans to be a "scientist-astronaut," conducting experiments in space. He will be spending some of his seventh-grade time helping with the computers at the California City Middle School.
  • Michael Sullivan, 17, says his CNA certification helped him land an apprenticeship with NASA. After spending his senior year managing the computers at Mojave High School, Sullivan plans to major at the California Institute of Technology in computer science and electrical engineering.
Formed in 1992, the NEAP program was Novell's and the entire IT industry's pioneer training program for bringing vendor training to colleges, universities and trade schools. Just over a year old, NEAP-Secondary builds off the strength of the original NEAP program and takes Novell training into the secondary level. Currently, Novell Education reports 27 Internal Campus Training sites, 218 NEAP sites in North America, 48 NEAP sites outside of North America, and 183 secondary sites or high schools currently enrolled in the Novell Education Academic Partnership program, with a projected 500 schools participating by the end of the 1998 academic year. This accounts for approximately 25,000 students who will take the NetWare 4 Administration course in a high school environment in the coming academic year. There are currently over 335 NEAP organizations worldwide offering training to over 40,000 students per year.

An authorized education partnership with Novell, the NEAP program focuses on both the CNA and CNE skills and certifications and is part of a United States trend toward "school-to-work" programs that equip high school students with vocational job skills. CNE is Novell's pioneer IT certification, and since its inception in 1989, has become the global standard for service and support and a common global requirement for many networking jobs. Over 180,000 CNA and 120,000 CNE certifications have been earned worldwide. To find out how to become an NEAP, call 1-800-233-EDUC.

Founded in 1983, Novell (NASDAQ: NOVL) is the world's leading provider of network software. The company offers a wide range of network solutions for distributed network, Internet/intranet and small-business markets, as well as the network computing industry's most comprehensive education and technical support programs. Information about Novell and its complete range of products and services can be accessed on the World Wide Web at http://www.novell.com.

Press Contact:
Laura Kvinge
Novell, Inc.
Phone: 801-222-4029
Internet: Lkvinge@Novell.com