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Date: March 16, 1998
Head of Novell, Inc. to Discuss the Future of Networking
Princeton, N.J. -- Eric Schmidt, chairman and chief executive officer of Novell, Inc., the world's leading provider of network software, will be on the Princeton campus Thursday, April 1, to deliver the 1998 Gordon Wu Distinguished Lecture. Dr. Schmidt, who earned his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Princeton in 1976, will discuss current uses and the future of networking in his lecture titled "The new face of networking."
"The new face of the network is not an interface, and it's not even a single face," Dr. Schmidt said. "The new face of networking has a human face, and there are as many faces as there are users on the network today. The human face of networking is interactive and changing. Every face is different and everyone's needs from networks are different."
He added that when people think about computers, they really think about themselves and what they can achieve. Organizations must learn to deal with the complexity and creativity that networks bring to them.
Dr. Schmidt, who joined Novell in 1997 after 14 years at Sun Microsystems, has earned international recognition as an Internet pioneer. He was instrumental in the widespread acceptance of Java, Sun's platform-independent programming language.
As chairman and CEO of Novell, Dr. Schmidt is actively involved in all significant operating and strategic decisions. He plays a central role in the technical development and management of the company. He led a major restructuring of the company to reduce and realign resources and to better manage and control business.
Dr. Schmidt's Princeton lecture is scheduled for 4:30 p.m., Thursday, April 2, 1998, in the auditorium (Room 104) of the Computer Science Building on Olden Street in Princeton. The Gordon Wu Lecture, named in honor of Sir Gordon Y.S. Wu `58, is open to the public.