Novell Netware gained its popularity for file and printer sharing. If you are already using it, and have no problems, I'd stick with it.

But I would not recommend it for a NEW machine. Linux, with Samba, will integrate easily into a Windows network, and provide file storage capability. In addition, each user who logs into the server will have his own private storage space visible only to him.

The alternative, a Microsoft Windows 2000 server is, I believe, a waste of a company's good money. Whenever you deploy a Microsoft server product (with the possible exception of a web server, they try to hit you big for money), calling it "licensing fees". Unfortunately it's legal for them to do so, and so the only alternative is to not use their product.

On the other hand, if you've got a telephone-company sized operation, you'd probably want a Unix-based (like Sun Solaris or HP-UX) backbone.