Partners slam Infilearning scheme

Novell is still facing a barrage of criticism over its Infilearning training programme after partners complained they were still unable to offer the full service to customers.

Marko Jergic, training manager at Networks Si, said: 'Novell has ceased to promise timescales and it is not offering training from vendors such as Oracle, something which has annoyed people.'

Novell's Authorised Education Centres (NAECs) originally expected the multi-vendor, online training programme to launch on 1 January after it was unveiled at the Edge conference in July last year.

But Novell training partners were still waiting for the full programme some four months later (PC Dealer, 29 April).

Greg Smedsrug, director of strategy at Novell, admitted that Infilearning would take yet another 90 days to offer a full training programme, adding: 'It is just a matter of getting all the content onto the infrastructure.'

He also revealed the course would no longer be branded solely as a Novell training programme.

'It has been created by us but will not be branded as Novell education,' Smedsrug said. 'We will have contracts with firms which will include their educational content on the infrastructure.'

An industry source said people had become disillusioned with the programme, adding: 'Everyone is still evaluating the course but because the product has been slow to market, a lot of companies have gone on to sell different training services.'

Peter Clements, product manager at CTech, commented: 'The delays are to be expected as it is the first time a vendor has offered this kind of service.'

He added: 'We want to have the framework to offer our customers, but we are having to play it by ear.'