Editing Novell (section)

====Sales and channel practices====
[[Image:Novell BrainShare letters display forward 1995.jpg|thumb|right|The annual [[Novell BrainShare]] conference, seen here with its entrance letters in 1995, helped spread the word about how developers and partners could make use of NetWare]]

Equally important as technological factors to NetWare's growth was that Novell did not try to hire a large sales force to do direct sales of the product, but instead sold it through a broad channel of some 13,000 [[value-added reseller]]s.<ref name="NYT_Noorda_1992"/> Such resellers provided network education, installation, and subsequent maintenance, and included [[CompUSA]] and [[Egghead Software]] for very small businesses all the way up to sophisticated systems integrators like [[Andersen Consulting]] and [[Electronic Data Systems]] for enterprise-level projects.<ref name="NYT_Noorda_1992"/> In this way Novell constructed a local area network franchise in literal terms, as Novell Authorized Education Centers were set up on a [[franchising]] basis.<ref name="NYT_Noorda_1992"/> Credentialization programs were in place, such that becoming a [[Certified NetWare Engineer]] was an important step, one that could be furthered with levels such as [[Master Certified NetWare Engineer]].<ref name="Reg_Peaked_2013"/> As one industry analyst said, "They've done a wonderful job of farming distribution out. They train people who go out and train other people, and every time somebody gets trained, they get another Netware bigot, and make another dollar. They are getting paid to have people go out and be evangelists."<ref name="NYT_Noorda_1992"/> The partnering approach also worked well in overseas markets, such as in Japan where Novell set up a subsidiary that major Japanese electronics firms invested in, or in South America and Eastern Europe where Novell set up authorized distributors.<ref name="NYT_Noorda_1992"/>

Under Ray Noorda's leadership, Novell provided upgrades to resellers and customers in the same packaging as a newly purchased copy of NetWare, but at one third the cost, which created a [[gray market]] that allowed NetWare resellers to sell upgrades as newly purchased NetWare versions at full price periodically, which Novell intentionally did not track. Noorda commented to several analysts that he devised this strategy to allow front line resellers to "punch through" the distributors like Tech Data and Ingram and acquire NetWare versions at a discounted rate, as Novell "looked the other way"; this helped fund the salaries of Novell Field Support Technicians, who for the most part were employees who worked for the front line resellers as Novell CNE (Certified NetWare Engineers).
Noorda commented that this strategy was one he learned as an executive at [[General Electric]] when competing against imported home appliances: allow the resellers to "make more money off your product than someone else's".