Florham Park is a borough in Morris County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 11,696,[ The USL Europe office in London was moved into Novell's facility in ]Bracknell, Berkshire
Bracknell () is a large town and civil parish in Berkshire, England, the westernmost area within the Greater London Urban Area and the administrative centre of the Borough of Bracknell Forest. It lies to the east of Reading, south of Maiden ...
.
Novell's time with Unix technology saw the release of UnixWare 1.1 in January 1994, in both personal and advanced server editions and with the bundled inclusion of TCP/IP, a NetWare Unix Client, and Merge
Merge, merging, or merger may refer to:
Concepts
* Merge (traffic), the reduction of the number of lanes on a road
* Merge (linguistics), a basic syntactic operation in generative syntax in the Minimalist Program
* Merger (politics), the comb ...
functionality for running DOS and Windows 3.1 applications. This was followed in early 1995 by the release of UnixWare 2.0, which included full support for multiple processors as well as improved installation and ease-of-use and additional NetWare integration features.
In September 1994 Novell began publicly describing its plans to develop a "SuperNOS", a microkernel
In computer science, a microkernel (often abbreviated as μ-kernel) is the near-minimum amount of software that can provide the mechanisms needed to implement an operating system (OS). These mechanisms include low-level address space management, ...
-based network operating system based on NetWare 4.1 and UnixWare 2.0. The aim was to include UnixWare technology inside NetWare, provide the strengths of both NetWare's network services and UnixWare's application services, be able to run existing NetWare Loadable Module
A NetWare Loadable Module (NLM) is a loadable kernel module (a binary code module) that can be loaded into Novell's NetWare operating system. NLMs can implement hardware drivers, server functions (e.g. clustering), applications (e.g. GroupW ...
s (NLMs) and Unix executables, and accordingly create a network operating system that could successfully compete with Microsoft's Windows NT
Windows NT is a proprietary graphical operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems sc ...
. SuperNOS would also operate across distributed servers with unified presentation. Finally, SuperNOS would take advantage of object-oriented programming
Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a programming paradigm based on the concept of "objects", which can contain data and code. The data is in the form of fields (often known as attributes or ''properties''), and the code is in the form of pr ...
paradigms as a way of fostering easier application development.
In terms of operating system architecture, SuperNOS would run NLMs in kernel space, for maximum throughput, while it would run Spec 1170-based Unix applications in user space
A modern computer operating system usually segregates virtual memory into user space and kernel space. Primarily, this separation serves to provide memory protection and hardware protection from malicious or errant software behaviour.
Kernel ...
. For clustering, SuperNOS would embrace elements of a NetWare distributed parallel processing proposal and a UnixWare single system image In distributed computing, a single system image (SSI) cluster is a cluster of machines that appears to be one single system. The concept is often considered synonymous with that of a distributed operating system, but a single image may be presented ...
initiative. SuperNOS was based on work that had already started at USL and at the French company Chorus Systèmes SA for cooperative work on the Chorus
Chorus may refer to:
Music
* Chorus (song) or refrain, line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse
* Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound
* Chorus form, song in which all verse ...
microkernel technology in the context of supporting SVR4 on a microkernel. This microkernel was arguably superior for this purpose than the more well-known Mach one, because it gave more flexibility at the kernel mode–user mode boundary. By mid-1995 the SuperNOS project was reportedly about one-third completed, with 1997 being seen as a customer release date for it. There were over 60 engineers assigned to it, mostly from the UnixWare and Chorus side. The project endured prolonged internal architectural debates and resistance from the NetWare side due to a reluctance to believe that Unix was really superior to NetWare in key aspects. In one instance, Novell's Drew Major and Chorus Systèmes' Michel Gien disagreed in the trade press about whether the existent Chorus technology was up to the task. The long-running disputes reflected cultural and political divisions between the San Jose (with Rekhi being a Unix supporter before leaving altogether) and Utah camps within Novell. In any case the 1997 date was seen by industry observers as being too late to forestall the market-share gains that Windows NT was already making.
The acquisition of USL never really worked out for Novell. During the company's fiscal years of 1993, 1994, and 1995, Novell's Unix Systems Group represented only about 5 percent of the company's revenue on an ongoing basis. Very few Certified NetWare Engineers ever reached a similar level of involvement with UnixWare. Another aim, that Novell might be able to coalesce Unix vendor versions and thus resolve the Unix wars
The Unix wars were struggles between vendors to set a standard for the Unix operating system in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Origins
Although AT&T Corporation created Unix, by the 1980s, the University of California, Berkeley Computer Syste ...
, was not achieved either. By late summer 1995 the company was looking for a way out of the Unix business.
In September 1995, Novell announced the sale of UnixWare to the Santa Cruz Operation
The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. (usually known as SCO, pronounced either as individual letters or as a word) was an American software company, based in Santa Cruz, California, that was best known for selling three Unix operating system variants ...
(SCO), coincident with a licensing arrangement with Hewlett Packard
The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...
. As part of the deal, SCO said that it would merge the SVR4.2-based UnixWare with its existing SVR3.2-based OpenServer operating system and add NetWare services to the new merged product, code-named "Gemini". Gemini would then be sold through SCO's well-known channel and reseller operation. As for HP, they said they would add NetWare code and NetWare Directory Services to their own version of Unix, HP-UX
HP-UX (from "Hewlett Packard Unix") is Hewlett Packard Enterprise's proprietary implementation of the Unix operating system, based on Unix System V (initially System III) and first released in 1984. Current versions support HPE Integrity Ser ...
, in combination with Distributed Computing Environment
In computing, the Distributed Computing Environment (DCE) software system was developed in the early 1990s from the work of the Open Software Foundation (OSF), a consortium (founded in 1988) that included Apollo Computer (part of Hewlett-Packard fr ...
elements, which would then be sold by HP's strong direct-sales force. Finally, SCO and HP said that they would co-develop a next-generation, 64-bit version of Unix. Some 400 Novell software engineers had been working on UnixWare; most of them were offered jobs with either SCO or HP, while a few remained with Novell.
While some lip service was paid to the notion that SuperNOS would go on after the three-way deal, in fact, it was abandoned and never achieved fruition in that form. (A decade later, Novell's Open Enterprise Server product would realize some aspects of a hybrid NetWare/Unix-like system, this time based around SUSE Linux Enterprise Server rather than UnixWare.)
By December, there were already some indications that the three-way arrangement was not working out as had been initially advertised. The computer industry was not sure that SCO could handle being the primary Unix shepherd. The HP project, code-named "White Box", focused on making a hybrid environment out of the SRV4.2-based Gemini and the SVR3.2-based HP-UX, but that effort faced major technical hurdles. The terms of the deal between Novell and SCO, which closed in December 1995, were uncertain enough that an amendment had to be signed in October 1996, and even that was not clear enough to preclude an extended battle between the two companies during the SCO-Linux disputes of the 2000s.
Tools: AppWare
In June 1993, Novell purchased Serius Corp., a firm that made a graphical programming language
In computing, a visual programming language (visual programming system, VPL, or, VPS) is any programming language that lets users create programs by manipulating program elements ''graphically'' rather than by specifying them ''textually''. A VPL ...
that could construct applications by connecting together icons representing objects in the program and their commands. Novell also purchased Software Transformations Inc., who made a cross-platform object code library that could be used to port conventional programs to a number of platforms. The disparate technologies of the two products were combined and renamed to AppWare AppWare was a rapid application development system for Microsoft Windows and the classic Mac OS based on a simple graphical programming language. Applications were constructed by connecting together icons representing objects in the program and th ...
, with the Serius product being called AppWare Visual AppBuilder, the objects it used AppWare Loadable Modules, and the Software Transformations library AppWare Foundation. The organization working on this was called the AppWare Systems Group. The founder of Serius, Joe Firmage, became vice president of strategy for Novell's Network Systems Group.
AppWare was one of the three main strategic focuses of Novell during this period, along with NetWare and UnixWare. These three prongs were intended to satisfy the growing need for scalable, distributed computing at the enterprise level of applications such as general ledger systems or reservation systems; as Novell executive Jim Tolonen outlined: " etWarebeing the underlying infrastructure over which those mission critical transactions will be moved, Unix einga place on which the applications can run, and AppWare as tools that will help programmers write that class of application in a distributed environment."
It was not long before the AppWare plans started to fall apart. In September 1994 Novell announced they would be selling the Appware Foundation product to a third party. Novell did state that development of Visual AppBuilder would continue, and a Unix port would be following (that did not materialize). Novell also continued to release a number of new Appware Loadable Modules. But overall, as ''Byte
The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable unit ...
'' magazine wrote in early 1995 about the three-pronged strategy, these "unrelated ... families of products formed an unsteady tripod".
Joe Firmage became disillusioned with Novell in mid-1995, following its decision to sell UnixWare and abandon the SuperNOS project, and left Novell later that year. Novell then publicly stated in November 1995 that it was looking for a buyer for AppWare. In March 1996, it was announced (based on an agreement that had been signed the month before) that Novell had sold all rights to the AppWare technology to a new company called Network Multimedia Inc., which was headed by Ed Firmage, who had been director of AppWare marketing at Novell.
Applications: WordPerfect, Quattro Pro, and GroupWise
In March 1994, Novell announced that it was acquiring WordPerfect Corporation, whose primary product was the WordPerfect word processor, as well as acquiring the Quattro Pro
Quattro Pro is a spreadsheet program developed by Borland and now sold by Corel, most often as part of Corel's WordPerfect Office suite.
Characteristics
Historically, Quattro Pro used keyboard commands close to those of Lotus 1-2-3. While i ...
spreadsheet from Borland. Novell executives said that goal of the acquisitions was to build a suite of products that could be connected across the network via NetWare and UnixWare. Key to this was the idea of " groupware" for collaboration. Noorda said, "The era of stand-alone personal computing is evolving into group collaboration that connects individuals, groups and companies. Novell's objective is to accelerate this market transition." The geographical proximity, as well as the cultural similarity, between the two companies also made the acquisition seem like a good idea. The merger, and acquisition from Borland, both closed on June 24, 1994 (with the public announcement being made on June 27). Work on the acquired products was organized into the company's Application Group. Both before and after the acquisition, there were substantial layoffs of WordPerfect staff; at the peak right after the acquisition closed, Novell's employee count was around 10,150. Novell's corporate address was shifted to WordPerfect's Orem location for a while.
The market for standalone word processors and spreadsheets was expanding to that of office suites
Productivity software (also called personal productivity software or office productivity software) is application software used for producing information (such as documents, presentations, worksheets, databases, charts, graphs, digital painting ...
, where Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office, or simply Office, is the former name of a family of client software, server software, and services developed by Microsoft. It was first announced by Bill Gates on August 1, 1988, at COMDEX in Las Vegas. Initially a marketin ...
had an early lead in marketshare. To compete, Novell PerfectOffice 3.0 was released in December 1994. It was based upon an earlier effort, Borland Office 2.0 for Windows, but had superior look-and-feel and integration. It contained not just WordPerfect and Quattro Pro but also other products, most of which had originated at WordPerfect Corporation, including Presentations
A presentation conveys information from a speaker to an audience. Presentations are typically demonstrations, introduction, lecture, or speech meant to inform, persuade, inspire, motivate, build goodwill, or present a new idea/product. Present ...
for slides preparation, a personal information manager
A personal information manager (often referred to as a PIM tool or, more simply, a PIM) is a type of application software that functions as a personal organizer. The acronym PIM is now, more commonly, used in reference to personal information manag ...
called InfoCentral, and the GroupWise
GroupWise is a messaging and collaboration platform from Micro Focus that supports email, calendaring, personal information management, instant messaging, and document management. The GroupWise platform consists of desktop client software, whi ...
collaboration product. There was also a professional edition that included AppWare as well as Borland's Paradox
A paradox is a logically self-contradictory statement or a statement that runs contrary to one's expectation. It is a statement that, despite apparently valid reasoning from true premises, leads to a seemingly self-contradictory or a logically u ...
database. PerfectOffice surpassed in sales one early player in the space, Lotus SmartSuite
Lotus may refer to:
Plants
*Lotus (plant), various botanical taxa commonly known as lotus, particularly:
** ''Lotus'' (genus), a genus of terrestrial plants in the family Fabaceae
**Lotus flower, a symbolically important aquatic Asian plant also ...
, and GroupWise found three times the number of users as Lotus Notes
HCL Notes (formerly IBM Notes and Lotus Notes; see Branding below) and HCL Domino (formerly IBM Domino and Lotus Domino) are the client and server
Server may refer to:
Computing
*Server (computing), a computer program or a device that provide ...
. The application products also had the advantage of what Novell's senior vice president for corporate marketing, Christine Hughes, called " n'in your face' presence for the user. Otherwise no one is aware it's Novell providing that connection." But industry analyst reaction was that while PerfectOffice 3.0 was a good product, it was arriving too late to head off Microsoft Office's momentum.
WordPerfect also played in a role in larger architectural ambitions within Novell, as WordPerfect incorporated OpenDoc
OpenDoc is a defunct multi-platform software componentry framework standard created by Apple in the 1990s for compound documents, intended as an alternative to Microsoft's proprietary Object Linking and Embedding (OLE). It is one of Apple's e ...
and IBM System Object Model
In computing, the System Object Model (SOM) is an object-oriented shared library system developed by IBM. DSOM, a distributed version based on CORBA, allowed objects on different computers to communicate.
SOM defines an interface between pro ...
technology. These became part of the basis for Novell's larger distributed object
In distributed computing, distributed objects are objects (in the sense of object-oriented programming) that are distributed across different address spaces, either in different processes on the same computer, or even in multiple computers conn ...
strategy. That strategy was tied to having supporting multiple object request broker In distributed computing, an object request broker (ORB) is a middleware which allows program calls to be made from one computer to another via a computer network, providing location transparency through remote procedure calls. ORBs promote interop ...
s that could tie in NetWare Loadable Modules, the AppWare Bus, UnixWare, and eventually SuperNOS itself. WordPerfect itself was also supposedly using the AppWare foundation layer in its work. Other parts of WordPerfect were deemed less strategic, and the Main Street line of multimedia products for children was dropped.
During its time in Novell, WordPerfect still sold reasonably well as standalone software, garnering almost half of all such word processor sales; but the market was increasingly dominated by the idea of office suites, and there Microsoft Office was supreme, with 86 percent of the market compared to only 5 percent for Novell's PerfectOffice. As such, the WordPerfect and Quattro Pro part of the company dragged down Novell's earnings and stock price.
Novell stated in November 1995 that it was putting its personal productivity product line up for sale. Then in January 1996 it announced that the sale of these products, primarily WordPerfect and Quattro Pro, would be made to Corel
Cascade Parent Limited, doing business as Alludo (pronounced like "all you do"), is a Canadian software company headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, specializing in graphics processing. Formerly called the Corel Corporation ( ; from the abbreviatio ...
for $186 million, a large loss from the $855 million that it had originally paid to acquire WordPerfect. Novell did hold onto a few pieces that it had acquired from WordPerfect, most importantly the GroupWise
GroupWise is a messaging and collaboration platform from Micro Focus that supports email, calendaring, personal information management, instant messaging, and document management. The GroupWise platform consists of desktop client software, whi ...
collaboration product. By some estimates Novell had lost $750 million on the WordPerfect experience. The sale to Corel was completed in March 1996.
Results
Overall, none of these moves had worked out well – for instance, Novell suffered a net loss of $35 million for its 1993 fiscal year, largely due to write-offs for the acquisitions, and under criticism from Wall Street, Novell's stock price underwent a prolonged downturn – and many of the companies and products that had been purchased were subsequently sold off. Novell did have its two largest revenue years in 1994 and 1995, generating $1.998 billion and $2.041 billion in sales respectively. But the Noorda-era acquisitions were short-lived.
The business press was negative on the whole attempt: ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' referred to "acquisitions Mr. Noorda had made in his latter years in a disastrous attempt to compete head-on with Microsoft", while the ''San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...
'' talked of "a disastrous acquisition spree undertaken by previous CEO Ray Noorda in an effort to compete with Microsoft." By the year 2000, ''The Age
''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...
'' would say that "The WordPerfect acquisition was the biggest disaster in software history".
Novell continued to have mediocre-at-best financial results during 1995 and 1996.
In August 1996, Frankenberg himself departed Novell in what was variously portrayed as a mutual decision, or as a resignation under pressure from the company's board of directors. His years there had been marked by having to disassemble Noorda's acquisitions but also by failing to fully recognize the growing importance of the Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
for networking applications.
Loss of networking dominance
NDS and other new products
Novell's core products did not stay idle during this challenging-of-Microsoft time, as work in the company's NetWare Systems Group continued.
One of Novell's major innovations was Novell Directory Services (NDS), later known as eDirectory
eDirectory is an X.500-compatible directory service software product from NetIQ. Previously owned by Novell, the product has also been known as Novell Directory Services (NDS) and sometimes referred to as ''NetWare Directory Services''. NDS was i ...
. It was based on the CCITT X.500 standard and supported the notion of a distributed directory. Introduced with NetWare 4.0 in 1993, NDS replaced the old Bindery server and user management technology employed by NetWare 3.x and earlier. Directory services were seen as a crucial strategic key to staying relevant in the networking marketplace. It was also one where Novell had a lead over Microsoft, as the latter's Active Directory
Active Directory (AD) is a directory service developed by Microsoft for Windows domain networks. It is included in most Windows Server operating systems as a set of processes and services. Initially, Active Directory was used only for centralize ...
was not yet out.
Then with UnixWare gone, Novell focused on major upgrades to its core NetWare-based network operating system. The initial release of NetWare 4 came with compatibility problems for some NetWare 3 users, and large enterprises were faced with an upgrade-all-or-upgrade-none decision. However some 40 million users declined to move to NetWare 4, with the result that Novell lost large amounts of possible revenue in upgrades. Although the NetWare 4.1 release of 1995 sought to remedy some of these issues, the lag had caused many Novell customers to take a serious look at Windows NT. And Windows NT was proving better as a platform for application and database services than NetWare. Furthermore, Microsoft was having success with its no-extra-charge bundling of Microsoft's IIS web server on NT, while Novell's presence in the Internet market was severely lacking. Still, as of 1996, by one estimate there were three million networks, and tens of millions of PCs, still using NetWare.
In 1996, the company began a move into Internet-enabled products, replacing reliance on the proprietary IPX protocol in favor of a native TCP/IP stack. Support for the new Java programming language
Java is a high-level, class-based, object-oriented programming language that is designed to have as few implementation dependencies as possible. It is a general-purpose programming language intended to let programmers ''write once, run anywh ...
also began to be added to NetWare. An Internet-focused product released during 1996 was called Intranetware.
These moves were accelerated when Eric Schmidt became CEO in April 1997, the first in the post since Frankenberg's departure; Christopher Stone was brought in as senior vice president of strategy and corporate development, reporting to Schmidt. Many observers were surprised that Schmidt would leave his chief technical officer position at Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Sun for short) was an American technology company that sold computers, computer components, software, and information technology services and created the Java programming language, the Solaris operating system, ZFS, the ...
, which at the time was doing very well, to go to Novell, which was viewed as a company in real trouble. The new CEO said, "Novell has been defocused by a series of acquisitions and forays that didn't work out. In this collaborative world, it's more important to do a few things well and just go for them like you've never seen."
One result of these shifts was BorderManager, released in August 1997, which supplied proxy server
In computer networking, a proxy server is a server application that acts as an intermediary between a client requesting a resource and the server providing that resource.
Instead of connecting directly to a server that can fulfill a request ...
, firewall
Firewall may refer to:
* Firewall (computing), a technological barrier designed to prevent unauthorized or unwanted communications between computer networks or hosts
* Firewall (construction), a barrier inside a building, designed to limit the spr ...
, and other services for connecting NetWare networks to the Internet. Another was a new version of NDS, that was capable of running with Windows NT, not just NetWare.
And still another was NetWare 5.0, released in October 1998, with hopes for it accelerating Novell's improved fortunes under Schmidt. NetWare 5.0 leveraged and built upon eDirectory and introduced new functions, such as Novell Cluster Services (NCS, a replacement for SFT-III) and Novell Storage Services (NSS), a replacement for the traditional Turbo FAT
In computing, a NetWare File System (NWFS) is a file system based on a heavily modified version of FAT. It was used in the Novell NetWare operating system. It is the default and only file system for all volumes in versions 2.x through 4.x, and t ...
filesystem used by earlier versions of NetWare. While NetWare 5.0 introduced native TCP/IP support into the NOS, IPX was still supported, allowing for smooth transitions between environments and avoiding the "forklift upgrades" frequently required by competing environments. Similarly, the traditional Turbo FAT file system remained a supported option.
Decline of marketshare
The inclusion of networking as a core system component in all mainstream PC operating systems after 1995 led to a steep decline in Novell's market share. Unlike Windows 3.1
Windows 3.1 is a major release of Microsoft Windows. It was released to manufacturing on April 6, 1992, as a successor to Windows 3.0.
Like its predecessors, the Windows 3.1 series ran as a shell on top of MS-DOS. Codenamed Janus, Windows 3 ...
and its predecessors, Windows NT
Windows NT is a proprietary graphical operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems sc ...
, Windows 95
Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented operating system developed by Microsoft as part of its Windows 9x family of operating systems. The first operating system in the 9x family, it is the successor to Windows 3.1x, and was released to manufacturin ...
, Linux
Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...
, and OS/2
OS/2 (Operating System/2) is a series of computer operating systems, initially created by Microsoft and IBM under the leadership of IBM software designer Ed Iacobucci. As a result of a feud between the two companies over how to position OS/2 ...
all included network functionality which greatly reduced demand for third-party products in this segment. For instance, one mid-1996 survey of a thousand corporate users, conducted by Forrester Research
Forrester is a research and advisory company that offers a variety of services including research, consulting, and events.
Forrester has nine North America locations: Cambridge, Massachusetts; New York, New York; San Francisco, California; McL ...
, showed that 90 percent of them owned NetWare but only 20 percent said they had upgraded to the latest NetWare version and less than half of the users thought they would still be using NetWare three years hence. By March 1996, the company's stock price had fallen from a high of $33 a share in 1993 to a new low of under $12. Revenue declined from 1995 on. By 1997, Windows NT was winning 42 percent of new network operating system installations versus 33 percent for NetWare, and it was on the verge of overtaking NetWare even when upgrade sales were included. Overall, NetWare's market share had fallen to 26 percent and had been passed by Windows NT's 36 percent. Unix also had a significant share, and the free software Linux operating system
Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...
had started to appear and make inroads as well.
With revenues in decline, Schmidt took actions to control costs, and some 18 percent of Novell employees were laid off during the first few months of his tenure. In addition he was forced to halt NetWare shipments to resellers because unsold inventory levels were so high. By the end of summer 1997, Schmidt was saying, "I took the job on the presumption that we would not have to do this. If I'd known what shape the company was in, I might not have taken it." While there was some speculation that Novell might relocate much of the company to its San Jose facility, Novell instead recommitted to Provo, building a new headquarters tower that opened in 2000.
But Novell's decline and loss of market share accelerated under Schmidt's leadership, with Novell experiencing an across-the-board decline in sales and purchases of NetWare and a drop in share price from /share to /share. Analysts commented that the primary reason for Novell's demise was linked to its channel strategy and mismanagement of channel partners under Schmidt.
Schmidt embarked on a channel strategy to undo Noorda's "look the other way" approach and thereby remove the upgrades as whole box products, then directed Novell's general counsel to initiate litigation against a large number of Novell resellers who were routinely selling upgrades as newly purchased NetWare versions.
Although this move bolstered Novell's revenue numbers for several quarters, Novell's channels subsequently collapsed with the majority of Novell's resellers dropping NetWare for fear of litigation.
By 1999, Novell had lost its dominant market position, and was continually being out-marketed by Microsoft as resellers dropped NetWare, allowing Microsoft to gain access to corporate data centers by bypassing technical staff and selling directly to corporate executives. Most resellers then re-certified their Novell CNE employees— the field support technicians who were Novell's primary contact in the field with direct customers—as Microsoft MCSE technicians, and were encouraged to position NetWare as inferior to Windows 2000
Windows 2000 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft and oriented towards businesses. It was the direct successor to Windows NT 4.0, and was Software release life cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), releas ...
features such as Group Policy and Microsoft's GUI
The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, inste ...
, which was considered to be more modern than the character-based Novell interfaces. With falling revenue, the company focused on net services and platform interoperability. Products such as eDirectory and GroupWise were made multi-platform.
By 2000, some large NetWare enterprise customers, such as Chase Manhattan Bank
JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., doing business as Chase Bank or often as Chase, is an American national bank headquartered in New York City, that constitutes the consumer and commercial banking subsidiary of the U.S. multinational banking and fina ...
, United Parcel Service
United Parcel Service (UPS, stylized as ups) is an American multinational corporation, multinational package delivery, shipping & receiving and supply chain management company founded in 1907. Originally known as the American Messenger Company ...
, and the University of Southern California
The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...
were in the process of migrating most or all of their NetWare systems to alternatives. Revenue warnings during the second quarter of 2000 resulted in a 40 percent drop in the company's stock price. In October 2000, Novell released a new product, dubbed "DirXML", which was designed to synchronize data—typically user information—between disparate directory and database systems. This product leveraged the speed and functionality of eDirectory to store information, and would later become the Novell Identity Manager
NetIQ is a product line within the CyberRes line of business at Micro Focus, which includes solutions focused on cybersecurity, including ArcSight, Fortify, Voltage, and NetIQ.
NetIQ was previously based in Houston, Texas, with products that p ...
, forming the foundation of a core product set within Novell.
During Schmidt's tenure during the late 1990s, Novell developed and delivered a series of Internet-centric products that were well-reviewed. But these new products did not sell as well as the company had hoped, in part due to Novell channel issues with training, lead generation, and support. Indeed, there were reports of channel stuffing
Channel stuffing is a business practice in which a company, or a sales force within a company, inflates its sales figures by forcing more products through a distribution channel than the channel is capable of selling. Also known as trade loading, ...
taking place. So despite its efforts in these other spaces, Novell was increasingly becoming irrelevant within the industry. Of Schmidt's efforts with Novell, News.com wrote, "He had traversed a rocky road as chief executive at Novell, briefly laying a smooth path for a renaissance at the aging network software provider before succumbing to strategy issues that have plagued it for years."
Cambridge Technology Partners
In March 2001, it was announced that Novell was acquiring the consulting company Cambridge Technology Partners
Cambridge Technology Partners (ケンブリッジ・テクノãƒã‚¸ãƒ¼ãƒ»ãƒ‘ãƒ¼ãƒˆãƒŠãƒ¼ã‚ºæ ªå¼ä¼šç¤¾, CTP) is a Japan-based multinational professional services company that specializes in business and IT consulting.
The company is known for f ...
(CTP), founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...
by John J. Donovan
John J. Donovan (born February 12, 1942) is a former management professor at MIT, and the former president and chief executive of the Cambridge Technology Group, an executive training company. On May 3, 2022, Donovan Sr. was convicted of a doze ...
, to expand offerings into services. Novell felt that the ability to offer solutions (a combination of software and services) was key to satisfying customer demand. The merger was apparently against the firm's software development culture, and the finance personnel at the firm also recommended against it.
The CEO of CTP, Jack Messman, engineered the merger using his position as a board member of Novell since its inception, and as part of the deal became CEO of Novell. Chris Stone, who had left in 1999, was rehired as vice chairman to set the course for Novell's strategy into open source and enterprise Linux
Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...
. With the acquisition of CTP, which closed in July 2001, Novell moved its headquarters to . As for Schmidt, he departed Novell soon after the CTP announcement and headed for Google
Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
, where he became chair of the board (and soon after that, CEO).
In July 2002, Novell acquired SilverStream Software, a leader in web services-oriented applications, but a laggard in the marketplace. Renamed to Novell exteNd
Novell exteNd, formerly known as SilverStream, was a web application development suite from Novell that was discontinued in 2005. The latest version was 5.2. With the release of Novell Identity Manager 3, the components of the portal services in ...
, the platform comprised XML
Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing arbitrary data. It defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable ...
and web service tools based on Java EE
Jakarta EE, formerly Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) and Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE), is a set of specifications, extending Java SE with specifications for enterprise features such as distributed computing and web serv ...
.
Linux
SuSE and Open Enterprise Server
In August 2003, Novell acquired Ximian
Ximian, Inc. (previously called Helix Code and originally named International Gnome Support) was an American company that developed, sold and supported application software for Linux and Unix based on the GNOME platform. It was founded by Miguel ...
, a developer of open source
Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...
Linux applications (Evolution
Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
, Red Carpet
A red carpet is traditionally used to mark the route taken by heads of state on ceremonial and formal occasions, and has in recent decades been extended to use by VIPs and celebrities at formal events.
History
The earliest known reference ...
and Mono
Mono may refer to:
Common meanings
* Infectious mononucleosis, "the kissing disease"
* Monaural, monophonic sound reproduction, often shortened to mono
* Mono-, a numerical prefix representing anything single
Music Performers
* Mono (Japanese b ...
). This acquisition signaled Novell's plans to move its collective product set onto a Linux kernel
The Linux kernel is a free and open-source, monolithic, modular, multitasking, Unix-like operating system kernel. It was originally authored in 1991 by Linus Torvalds for his i386-based PC, and it was soon adopted as the kernel for the GNU ope ...
.
In November 2003, Novell acquired Linux OS developer SuSE, which led to a major shift of power in Linux distributions. IBM also invested to show support of the SuSE acquisition.
In mid-2003, Novell released "Novell Enterprise Linux Services" (NNLS), which ported some of the services traditionally associated with NetWare to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) version 8. NetWare 6.5, released in 2003, would prove to be the last version of that product.
In November 2004, Novell released the Linux-based enterprise desktop Novell Linux Desktop
SUSE Linux Enterprise (often abbreviated to SLE) is a Linux-based operating system developed by SUSE. It is available in two editions, suffixed with Server (SLES) for servers and mainframes, and Desktop (SLED) for workstations and desktop comp ...
9, based on Ximian Desktop and SUSE Linux Professional 9.1. This was Novell's first attempt to get into the enterprise desktop market.
The successor product to NetWare, Novell Open Enterprise Server
Open Enterprise Server (OES) is a server operating system published by Novell in March 2005 to succeed their NetWare product.
Unlike NetWare, Novell OES is a Linux distribution—specifically, one based on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server. The fir ...
(OES), was released in March 2005. OES offers all the services previously hosted by NetWare 6.5, and added the choice of delivering those services using either a NetWare 6.5 or SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 kernel. The release was aimed to persuade NetWare customers to move to Linux.
In August 2005, Novell created the openSUSE
openSUSE () is a free and open-source software, free and open source RPM Package Manager, RPM-based Linux distribution developed by the openSUSE project.
The initial release of the community project was a beta version of SUSE Linux 10.0.
Addi ...
project, based on SUSE Professional. openSUSE can be downloaded freely and is also available as boxed retail product.
Stagnation
From 2003 through 2005 Novell released many products across its portfolio, with the intention of arresting falling market share and to move away from dependencies on other Novell products, but the launches were not as successful as Novell had hoped. In late 2004, Chris Stone again left the company, after an apparent control issue with then CEO Jack Messman. In an effort to cut costs, Novell announced a round of layoffs in late 2005. While revenue from its Linux business continued to grow, the growth was not fast enough to offset the decrease in revenue of NetWare. While the company's revenue was not falling rapidly, it wasn't growing, either. Lack of clear direction or effective management meant that Novell took longer than expected to complete its restructuring.
In June 2006, chief executive Jack Messman and chief finance officer Joseph Tibbetts were fired, with Ronald Hovsepian, Novell's president and chief operating officer, appointed chief executive, and Dana Russell, vice-president of finance and corporate controller, appointed interim CFO.
"Your Linux is Ready"
In August 2006, Novell released the SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 (SLE 10) series. SUSE Linux Enterprise Server was the first enterprise class Linux server to offer virtualization based on the Xen hypervisor. SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (popularly known as SLED) featured a new user-friendly GUI and XGL
Xgl is an obsolete display server implementation supporting the X Window System protocol designed to take advantage of modern graphics cards via their OpenGL drivers, layered on top of OpenGL. It supports hardware acceleration of all X, OpenGL an ...
-based 3D display capabilities. The release of SLE 10 was marketed with the phrase "Your Linux is Ready", meant to convey that Novell's Linux offerings were ready for the enterprise. In late September 2006 Novell announced a real-time
Real-time or real time describes various operations in computing or other processes that must guarantee response times within a specified time (deadline), usually a relatively short time. A real-time process is generally one that happens in defined ...
version of SLES called "SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time" (SLERT), based on technology from Concurrent Computer Corporation
Concurrent Computer Corporation was an American computer company, in existence from 1985 to 2017, that made real-time computing and parallel processing systems. Its products powered a variety of applications including process control, simulators ...
.
Legal actions and reactions
Beginning in 2003, Novell became a key player in the SCO–Linux disputes
In a series of legal disputes between SCO Group and Linux vendors and users SCO alleged that its license agreements with IBM meant that source code IBM wrote and donated to be incorporated into Linux was added in violation of SCO's contractual rig ...
. The case ''SCO Group, Inc. v. Novell, Inc.
''SCO v. Novell'' was a United States lawsuit in which the software company The SCO Group (SCO), claimed ownership of the source code for the Unix operating system. SCO sought to have the court declare that SCO owned the rights to the Unix code, ...
'' revolved around the interpretation of the 1995 asset-transfer agreements between Novell and the Santa Cruz Operation, a predecessor company to The SCO Group
The SCO Group (often referred to SCO and later called The TSG Group) was an American software company in existence from 2002 to 2012 that became known for owning Unix operating system assets that had belonged to the Santa Cruz Operation (the o ...
– when Novell got out of the Unix business as part of abandoning its effort to take on Microsoft on all fronts – and a 1996 amendment that had attempted to clarify that agreement. The SCO Group believed that the transfer included ownership of, and copyrights for, the source code for the Unix operating system (which they in turn claimed Linux had infringed upon). Novell counter-sued, claiming that the asset-transfer agreements did not, in fact, transfer the intellectual property rights SCO sought.
The case attracted considerable industry and media attention, with the free and open source software
Free and open-source software (FOSS) is a term used to refer to groups of software consisting of both free software and open-source software where anyone is freely licensed to use, copy, study, and change the software in any way, and the source ...
(FOSS) community solidly on the side of Novell. There were a series of court rulings, most of which went in Novell's favor and which sent The SCO Group into bankruptcy. The matter was settled finally in 2010 when a jury trial in Utah ruled that the copyrights belonged to Novell. (Novell made no material use of the Unix ownership once it was ruled theirs, as by then their interests were with SuSE Linux.)
In 2004, Novell sued Microsoft, asserting it had engaged in antitrust violations regarding Novell's WordPerfect business in 1994 through 1996. Novell's lawsuit was subsequently dismissed by the United States District Court in July 2012 after it concluded that the claims were without merit.
On 2 November 2006, the two companies announced a joint collaboration agreement, including coverage of their respective products for each other's customers. They also promised to work more closely to improve compatibility of software, setting up a joint research facility. Executives of both companies expressed the hope that such cooperation would lead to better compatibility between Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office, or simply Office, is the former name of a family of client software, server software, and services developed by Microsoft. It was first announced by Bill Gates on August 1, 1988, at COMDEX in Las Vegas. Initially a marketin ...
and OpenOffice.org
OpenOffice.org (OOo), commonly known as OpenOffice, is a discontinued open-source office suite. Active successor projects include LibreOffice (the most actively developed), Apache OpenOffice, Collabora Online (enterprise ready LibreOffice) a ...
and better virtualization
In computing, virtualization or virtualisation (sometimes abbreviated v12n, a numeronym) is the act of creating a virtual (rather than actual) version of something at the same abstraction level, including virtual computer hardware platforms, stor ...
techniques.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer
Steven Anthony Ballmer (; March 24, 1956) is an American business magnate and investor who served as the chief executive officer of Microsoft from 2000 to 2014. He is the current owner of the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Associ ...
said of the deal, "This set of agreements will really help bridge the divide between open-source and proprietary source software."
The deal involved upfront payment of from Microsoft to Novell for patent cooperation and SLES subscription. Additionally, Microsoft agreed to spend around yearly, over the next 5 years, for marketing and selling a combined SLES/Windows Server offering and related virtualization solutions, while Novell paid at least yearly to Microsoft, in the same period.
One of the first results of this partnership was Novell adapting the OpenXML/ODF Translator for use in OpenOffice.org.
Microsoft released two public covenants not to sue users of the open source Moonlight
Moonlight consists of mostly sunlight (with little earthlight) reflected from the parts of the Moon's surface where the Sun's light strikes.
Illumination
The intensity of moonlight varies greatly depending on the lunar phase, but even the ful ...
runtime—a workalike for the Microsoft Silverlight
Microsoft Silverlight is a discontinued application framework designed for writing and running rich web applications, similar to Adobe Inc., Adobe's Run time environment, runtime, Adobe Flash. A plugin for Silverlight is still available for a v ...
rich media platform—for patent infringement. One condition common to each covenant was that no Moonlight implementation be released under the GPLv3
The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a series of widely used free software licenses that guarantee end users the four freedoms to run, study, share, and modify the software. The license was the first copyleft for general u ...
free software license.
In contrast to the SCO case, here initial reaction from members of the free and open source software community over the patent protection was mostly critical, with expressions of concern that Novell had "sold out" and doubt that the GNU GPL
The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a series of widely used free software licenses that guarantee end users the four freedoms to run, study, share, and modify the software. The license was the first copyleft for general us ...
would allow distribution of code, including the Linux kernel, under this exclusive agreement.
In a letter to the FOSS development community on 9 November 2006, Bradley M. Kuhn
Bradley M. Kuhn (born 1973) is a free software activist from the United States.
Kuhn is currently Policy Fellow and Hacker-in-Residence of the Software Freedom Conservancy, having previously been executive director. Until 2010 he was the FLOSS C ...
, CTO of the Software Freedom Law Center
The Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) is an organization that provides '' pro bono'' legal representation and related services to not-for-profit developers of free software/open source software. It was launched in February 2005 with Eben Moglen ...
(SFLC), described the agreement as "worse than useless". In a separate development, the chairman of the SFLC, Eben Moglen
Eben Moglen (born 1959) is an American legal scholar who is professor of law and legal history at Columbia University, and is the founder, Director-Counsel and Chairman of Software Freedom Law Center.
Professional biography
Moglen started out as ...
, reported that Novell had offered cooperation with the SFLC to permit a confidential audit to determine the compliance of the agreement with the GPL (version 2). Richard Stallman
Richard Matthew Stallman (; born March 16, 1953), also known by his initials, rms, is an American free software movement activist and programmer. He campaigns for software to be distributed in such a manner that its users have the freedom to ...
, founder of the Free Software Foundation
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is a 501(c)#501(c)(3), 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded by Richard Stallman on October 4, 1985, to support the free software movement, with the organization's preference for software being distributed ...
, said in November 2006 that changes coming with version 3 of the GPL would preclude such deals. When the final revision of the third version of the GPL license was decided, the deal between Microsoft and Novell was grandfather
Grandparents, individually known as grandmother and grandfather, are the parents of a person's father or mother – paternal or maternal. Every sexually-reproducing living organism who is not a genetic chimera has a maximum of four genetic ...
ed in. A clause within GPLv3 allows companies to distribute GPLv3 software even if they have made such patent partnerships in the past, as long as the partnership deal was made before 28 March 2007 (GPLv3 Section 11 paragraph 7).
On 12 November 2006, the Samba
Samba (), also known as samba urbano carioca (''urban Carioca samba'') or simply samba carioca (''Carioca samba''), is a Brazilian music genre that originated in the Afro-Brazilian communities of Rio de Janeiro in the early 20th century. Havin ...
team expressed strong disapproval of the announcement and asked Novell to reconsider. The team included an employee of Novell, Jeremy Allison
Jeremy Allison is a computer programmer known for his contributions to the free software community, notably to Samba, a re-implementation of SMB/CIFS networking protocol, released under the GNU General Public License.
Other contributions in ...
, who confirmed in a comment on Slashdot
''Slashdot'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''/.'') is a social news website that originally advertised itself as "News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters". It features news stories concerning science, technology, and politics that are submitted and eval ...
that the statement was agreed on by all members of the team, and later quit his job at Novell in protest.
In early February 2007, Reuters reported that the Free Software Foundation had announced that it was reviewing Novell's right to sell Linux versions, and was considering banning Novell from selling Linux. However, spokesman Eben Moglen later said that he was quoted out of context, and was only noting that GPL version 3 would be designed to block similar deals in the future.
Intelligent workload management
In December 2009, Novell announced its intention to lead the market in intelligent workload management Intelligent workload management (IWM) is a paradigm for IT systems management arising from the intersection of dynamic infrastructure, virtualization, identity management, and the discipline of software appliance development. IWM enables the manag ...
, with products designed to manage diverse workloads in a heterogeneous data center. Seeing this approach as a key to giving customers confidence in the area of cloud computing security
Cloud computing security or, more simply, cloud security refers to a broad set of policies, technologies, applications, and controls utilized to protect virtualized IP, data, applications, services, and the associated infrastructure of cloud com ...
, Novell restructured its business around the new initiative. Technologies from Novell's 2008 acquisition of Canadian company PlateSpin
PlateSpin is a software suite of Micro Focus International. Originally a standalone software company headquartered in Toronto, Canada, registered in Delaware, US as Platespin Inc. and founded by Robert Reive in 1999 with co-founders added later D ...
were involved. Key to this also was the use of SUSE Studio
SUSE Studio was an online Linux software creation tool by SUSE. Users could develop their own Linux distro, software appliance, or virtual appliance, mainly choosing which applications and packages they want on their "custom" Linux and how it loo ...
, an online Linux software creation tool through which users could develop their own Linux distribution
A Linux distribution (often abbreviated as distro) is an operating system made from a software collection that includes the Linux kernel and, often, a package management system. Linux users usually obtain their operating system by downloading one ...
, software appliance
A software appliance is a software application combined with just enough operating system (JeOS) to run optimally on industry-standard hardware (typically a server) or in a virtual machine. It is a software distribution or firmware that impleme ...
, or virtual appliance
A virtual appliance is a pre-configured virtual machine image, ready to run on a hypervisor; virtual appliances are a subset of the broader class of software appliances. Installation of a software appliance on a virtual machine and packaging that i ...
. Hovsepian said, "Cloud computing is a megatrend that matches the company's core competencies. ... We've developed our Suse appliance tool for application vendors This product allows them to create a virtual appliance. They won't have to rewrite and retest the application once it is in the cloud and it allows firms to host their application on other clouds too." But Novell's approach would also support other cloud environments such as those based around Hyper-V
Microsoft Hyper-V, codenamed Viridian, and briefly known before its release as Windows Server Virtualization, is a native hypervisor; it can create virtual machines on x86-64 systems running Windows. Starting with Windows 8, Hyper-V superseded W ...
, VMware
VMware, Inc. is an American cloud computing and virtualization technology company with headquarters in Palo Alto, California. VMware was the first commercially successful company to virtualize the x86 architecture.
VMware's desktop software ru ...
, and Xen.
Partnerships in connection with intelligent workload management were announced with SAP
Sap is a fluid transported in xylem cells (vessel elements or tracheids) or phloem sieve tube elements of a plant. These cells transport water and nutrients throughout the plant.
Sap is distinct from latex, resin, or cell sap; it is a separ ...
, Citrix Systems, Ingres, and others. Reaction of industry analysts to the move varied, with some positive and some more mixed. Among the more skeptical was Dan Kusnetzky of ZDNet
ZDNET is a business technology news website owned and operated by Red Ventures.
The brand was founded on April 1, 1991, as a general interest technology portal from Ziff Davis and evolved into an enterprise IT-focused online publication.
Hist ...
, who wrote that Novell "clearly hopes that putting its products together in new ways and invoking today's catch phrases and buzz words will appear fresh and new." While Novell did have strong technologies in this computing realm, it struggled to attract the same market attention that competing product lines from the likes of Microsoft or VMware held.
Acquisition by The Attachmate Group
Novell had long been rumored to be a target for acquisition by a variety of other companies. In March 2010, Elliott Associates, L.P., an institutional investor with approximately 8.5% stock ownership of Novell, offered to acquire the company for per share in cash, or . The company declined the offer, saying that the proposal was inadequate and that it undervalued the company's franchise and growth prospects.
Novell announced in November 2010 that it had agreed to be acquired by The Attachmate Group
The Attachmate Group, Inc. was a privately held software holding company based in Houston, Texas in the United States. The major companies held by the group were Attachmate, NetIQ, Novell, and SUSE.
Attachmate was owned by Wizard Parent LLCâ ...
for , and planned to operate Novell as two units, one being SUSE. As part of the deal, 882 patents
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...
owned by Novell were sold to CPTN Holdings LLC, a consortium of companies led by Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
and including Apple
An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...
, EMC, and Oracle
An oracle is a person or agency considered to provide wise and insightful counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. As such, it is a form of divination.
Description
The word '' ...
. According to Novell's SEC filing, the patents "relate primarily to enterprise-level computer systems management software, enterprise-level file management and collaboration software in addition to patents relevant to our identity and security management business, although it is possible that certain of such issued patents and patent applications read on a range of different software products". The Attachmate Group expressed in advance of the deal closing that there would no change to the relationship between the SUSE business and the openSUSE project. The merger completed in April 2011, with per share in cash being paid to acquire Novell. Novell became a wholly owned subsidiary of The Attachmate Group.
Concurrent with the closing of the acquisition, some of Novell's products and brands were transferred to another of the Attachmate Group business units, NetIQ
NetIQ is a product line within the CyberRes line of business at Micro Focus, which includes solutions focused on cybersecurity, including ArcSight, Fortify, Voltage, and NetIQ.
NetIQ was previously based in Houston, Texas, with products that pr ...
, and the SUSE Linux brand was spun off as its own business unit. The fourth business unit, Attachmate
Attachmate Corporation is a 1982-founded software company which focused on secure terminal emulation, legacy integration, and managed file transfer software. Citrix-compatibility and Attachment ''Reflection'' were enhanced/added offerings.
Hist ...
, was not directly affected by the acquisition.
Immediately prior to merger being finalized, Novell completed the patent sale to CPTN Holdings for . The U.S. Department of Justice announced that, as originally proposed, the deal with CPTN would jeopardize the ability of open source software, such as Linux, to continue to innovate and compete in the development and distribution of server, desktop, and mobile operating systems, middleware, and virtualization products; to address the department's antitrust concerns, CPTN and its owners had altered their original agreement:
* All of the Novell patents would be acquired subject to the GPLv2
The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a series of widely used free software licenses that guarantee end users the four freedoms to run, study, share, and modify the software. The license was the first copyleft for general us ...
open source license, and the Open Invention Network
Open Invention Network (OIN) is a company that acquires patents and licenses them royalty-free to its community members who, in turn, agree not to assert their own patents against Linux and Linux-related systems and applications.
History
The co ...
(OIN) license
* CPTN does not have the right to limit which of the patents, if any, are available under the OIN license
* Neither CPTN nor its owners will make any statement or take any action with the purpose of influencing or encouraging either Novell or Attachmate Group to modify which of the patents are available under the OIN license
With the acquisition, Novell's headquarters were moved back to Provo. But by then considerable consolidation had occurred, and the original six buildings of the Provo campus were sold.
During April and May 2011, The Attachmate Group announced layoffs for the Novell workforce, including hundreds of employees from the Provo location, raising questions about the future of some open source projects such as Mono
Mono may refer to:
Common meanings
* Infectious mononucleosis, "the kissing disease"
* Monaural, monophonic sound reproduction, often shortened to mono
* Mono-, a numerical prefix representing anything single
Music Performers
* Mono (Japanese b ...
.
Acquisition by Micro Focus
In September 2014, mainframe software company Micro Focus
Micro Focus International plc is a British multinational software and information technology business based in Newbury, Berkshire, England. The firm provides software and consultancy. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is ...
announced it was buying The Attachmate Group, including Novell, for . The acquisition closed on November 20, 2014, and the SUSE organization was split out separately from the rest of the former Novell organization within Micro Focus. SUSE was sold to EQT Partners in 2019.
The Novell products themselves were relabeled and dispersed among the file and networking services, collaborations, and security product lines of Micro Focus, such that offerings like Open Enterprise Server, GroupWise, and Zenworks became billed as Micro Focus products with no mention of their Novell past. The one page at the Micro Focus website listing former Novell products does not even mention NetWare.
As ''The Register
''The Register'' is a British technology news website co-founded in 1994 by Mike Magee, John Lettice and Ross Alderson. The online newspaper's masthead sublogo is "''Biting the hand that feeds IT''." Their primary focus is information tec ...
'' has written, "NetWare was almost uniquely a thing of its time. Whereas the PC has transcended its roots ... and Windows has grown ... into a sophisticated 64-bit OS, NetWare never escaped as its niche. When Windows was just a client OS, Novell’s proprietary IPX/SPX protocol and simple, fast, semi-dedicated file servers were a compelling offering. As Windows grew into a server OS too, though, NetWare couldn't compete."
Companies acquired
* Santa Clara Systems, Inc. (1986) for storage subsystems, network adapters, PCs
* Cache Data Product (1986)
* CXI (1987) for micro-to-mainframe software
* SoftCraft (1987) for Btrieve database and programming tools
* Indisy Software (1988/1990) for e-mail and message handling
* Excelan
Excelan was a computer networking company founded in 1982 by Kanwal Rekhi, Inder Singh and Navindra Jain. Excelan was a manufacturer of smart Ethernet cards, until the company merged with, and was acquired by Novell in 1989. The company offere ...
(1989) for TCP/IP, Unix, Mac, DEC VMS connectivity products
* Digital Research
Digital Research, Inc. (DR or DRI) was a company created by Gary Kildall to market and develop his CP/M operating system and related 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit systems like MP/M, Concurrent DOS, FlexOS, Multiuser DOS, DOS Plus, DR DOS and ...
for (1991) for PC operating system software (DR DOS etc.)
* International Business Software Ltd. (1992)
* Serius (1993)
* Unix System Laboratories
Unix System Laboratories (USL), sometimes written UNIX System Laboratories to follow relevant trademark guidelines of the time, was an American software laboratory and product development company that existed from 1989 through 1993. At first wh ...
(1993)
* WordPerfect Corporation (1994)
* Quattro Pro
Quattro Pro is a spreadsheet program developed by Borland and now sold by Corel, most often as part of Corel's WordPerfect Office suite.
Characteristics
Historically, Quattro Pro used keyboard commands close to those of Lotus 1-2-3. While i ...
( Borland) (1994)
* Netoria (1999)
* Ukiah Software (1999)
* JustOn (1999)
* PGSoft
Novell, Inc. was an American software and services company headquartered in Provo, Utah, that existed from 1980 until 2014. Its most significant product was the multi-platform network operating system known as Novell NetWare.
Under the lead ...
(2000)
* Novetrix (2001)
* Cambridge Technology Partners
Cambridge Technology Partners (ケンブリッジ・テクノãƒã‚¸ãƒ¼ãƒ»ãƒ‘ãƒ¼ãƒˆãƒŠãƒ¼ã‚ºæ ªå¼ä¼šç¤¾, CTP) is a Japan-based multinational professional services company that specializes in business and IT consulting.
The company is known for f ...
(2001)
* Callisto Software, Inc. (2001)
* SilverStream Software (2002)
* Ximian
Ximian, Inc. (previously called Helix Code and originally named International Gnome Support) was an American company that developed, sold and supported application software for Linux and Unix based on the GNOME platform. It was founded by Miguel ...
(2003)
* SUSE (2003)
* Salmon (2004)
* Tally System (2005)
* Immunix (2005)
* e-Security, Inc (2006)
* RedMojo (2007)
* Senforce (2007)
* PlateSpin
PlateSpin is a software suite of Micro Focus International. Originally a standalone software company headquartered in Toronto, Canada, registered in Delaware, US as Platespin Inc. and founded by Robert Reive in 1999 with co-founders added later D ...
(2008)
* SiteScape (2008)
* Fortefi (2008) for Command Control and Compliance Auditor
* Managed Objects, Inc. (2008)
Certification
Novell was one of the first computer companies to provide proficiency certification for users of its products. They included:
* Certified Novell Administrator
NetWare is a discontinued computer network operating system developed by Novell, Inc. It initially used cooperative multitasking to run various services on a personal computer, using the Internetwork Packet Exchange, IPX network protocol.
The ...
(CNA)
* Certified Novell Engineer (CNE)
* Enterprise Certified Novell Engineer (ECNE)
* Master Certified Novell Engineer (MCNE)
* Certified Directory Engineer (CDE)
* Certified Novell Instructor (CNI)
* Master Certified Novell Instructor (MCNI)
* Certified Linux Professional 10 (CLP 10)
* Certified Linux Engineer 10 (CLE 10)
Products
Products marketed by Novell during the latter stages of its existence included:
* '' BorderManager'' provides Internet access controls, secure VPN, and firewall services on NetWare
* ''Business Continuity Clustering'' automates the configuration and management of high-availability, clustered servers
* ''Client for Linux'' gives Linux desktop users access to NetWare and Open Enterprise Server services and applications
* ''Client for Windows'' gives Microsoft Windows users access to NetWare and Open Enterprise Server services and applications
* ''Cluster Services for Open Enterprise Server'' simplifies resource management on a Storage Area Network (SAN) and enables high-availability
* ''Data Synchronizer'' keeps applications and mobile devices constantly in sync, and offers connectors for popular CRM systems
Customer relationship management (CRM) is a process in which a business or other organization administers its interactions with customers, typically using data analysis to study large amounts of information.
CRM systems compile data from a r ...
* ''Endpoint Lifecycle Management Suite'' manages applications, devices, and servers over their life-cycle
* ''Endpoint Protection Suite'' Endpoint Protection Suite
* '' File Management Suite'' integrates three Novell products that work together to discover, analyze, provision, relocate and optimize file storage based on business policies
* '' File Reporter'' examines and reports on terabytes of unstructured file data, and forecasts storage growth
* ''GroupWise
GroupWise is a messaging and collaboration platform from Micro Focus that supports email, calendaring, personal information management, instant messaging, and document management. The GroupWise platform consists of desktop client software, whi ...
'' provides secure e-mail, calendaring, contact management, and task management with mobile synchronization
* ''iFolder
iFolder is an open-source application, developed by Novell, Inc., intended to allow cross-platform file sharing across computer networks.
iFolder operates on the concept of shared folders, where a folder is marked as shared and the contents ...
'' stores files for secure accessibility online and offline, across systems and on the web
* ''iPrint
iPrint is a print server developed by Novell, now owned by Micro Focus. iPrint enabled users to install a device driver for a printer directly from a web browser, and to submit print jobs over a computer network. It could process print jobs ro ...
'', a network appliance print server supports mobility on printing, a user can print from any device from anywhere to anywhere in any corner of the world
* ''NFS Gateway for NetWare 6.5'' enables NetWare 6.5 servers to access UNIX and Linux NFS-exported file-systems
* '' Open Enterprise Server'' offers NetWare services like centralized server management and secure file storage, running on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
* ''Open Workgroup Suite'' provides a low-cost alternative to Microsoft Professional Desktop Platform; features workgroup services and collaboration tools
* ''Open Workgroup Suite for Small Business'' offers a full-featured desktop-to-server solution running on Linux, designed to support small business users
* ''Service Desk'' streamlines and automates the provision of IT services. An OEM product from LiveTime Software.
* '' Storage Manager'' provides automated management of file storage for users and work groups
* ''Total Endpoint Management Suite'' efficiently balances security and productivity across an entire enterprise
* ''Vibe
''Vibe'' is an American music and entertainment magazine founded by producers David Salzman and Quincy Jones. The publication predominantly features R&B and hip hop music artists, actors and other entertainers. After shutting down producti ...
'' provides secure team collaboration with document management and workflow features that can replace existing intranet systems
* ZENworks
ZENworks, a suite of software products developed and maintained by Micro Focus International for computer systems management, aims to manage the entire product life cycle management, life cycle of server (computing), servers, of desktop compute ...
, a software suite supporting the management of computer systems
** '' ZENworks Application Virtualization'' allows the packaging and deployment of virtualized applications with predictive application-streaming that delivers apps based on user behavior
** ''ZENworks Asset Management'' provides reports on hardware and software, integrating licensing, installation, and usage data
** ''ZENworks Configuration Management'' provides automated endpoint-management, software distribution, user support, and accelerated Windows 7 migration
** ''ZENworks Endpoint Security Management'' (ZES) - provides identity-based protection for client endpoint
An endpoint, end-point or end point may refer to:
* Endpoint (band), a hardcore punk band from Louisville, Kentucky
* Endpoint (chemistry), the conclusion of a chemical reaction, particularly for titration
* Outcome measure, a measure used as an e ...
s like laptops, smart phones, and thumb drives; offers driver-level firewall protection
** ''ZENworks Full Disk Encryption'' protects data on laptops and desktops
** ''ZENworks Handheld Management'' allows securing stolen handheld
A mobile device (or handheld computer) is a computer small enough to hold and operate in the hand. Mobile devices typically have a flat LCD or OLED screen, a touchscreen interface, and digital or physical buttons. They may also have a physical ...
s, protects user data, enforces password policies, and locks out lost or stolen devices
** ''ZENworks Linux Management'' facilitates the control of Linux desktops and servers, using policy-driven automation to deploy, manage and maintain Linux resources
** ''ZENworks Mobile Management'' secures and manages mobile devices, both corporate-issued and personal (BYOD
Bring your own device (BYOD )—also called bring your own technology (BYOT), bring your own phone (BYOP), and bring your own personal computer (BYOPC)—refers to being allowed to use one's personally owned device, rather than being required to u ...
)
** ''ZENworks Patch Management'' automates patch assessment, monitoring and remediation; monitors patch compliance to detect security vulnerabilities
** ''ZENworks Virtual Appliance'' provides self-contained ''plug-and-play
In computing, a plug and play (PnP) device or computer bus is one with a specification that facilitates the recognition of a hardware component in a system without the need for physical device configuration or user intervention in resolving reso ...
'' configuration management, asset management and patch management
See also
* Novell BrainShare
References
Further reading
*
Digital Research - The 07-21-91 Summary
https://web.archive.org/web/20190419191113/http://www.ctyme.com/dri2.htm
(NB. Marc Perkel claimed to have inspired Novell in February 1991 to buy Digital Research
Digital Research, Inc. (DR or DRI) was a company created by Gary Kildall to market and develop his CP/M operating system and related 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit systems like MP/M, Concurrent DOS, FlexOS, Multiuser DOS, DOS Plus, DR DOS and ...
and develop something he called " NovOS".)
''Surfing the High Tech Wave: A story of Novell's early years, 1980–1990''
– Roger Bourke White Jr.'s self-published history
Scott M. Lewis, updated by Paul S. Bodine, "Novell, Inc.", ''International Directory of Company Histories'', c. 1998, as hosted at Encyclopedia.com
External links
* Novell
International
Japan
Novell Forums
Novell Blogs
Novell Wikis
Open Horizons — A co-operative EMEA body of international Novell User Groups
Open Horizons UK — An active Novell User Group for UK customers
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Companies based in Orem, Utah
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Micro Focus International
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