Origins as a hardware company The company began as
Novell Data Systems Inc. (
NDSI), a
computer systems company located in
Orem, Utah that intended to manufacture and market small business computers, computer terminals, and other peripherals. During the first calendar quarter of 1982, heavy costs continued to be incurred at Novell Data Systems, which resulted in management shuffles, organizational consolidations, and a significant
layoff. That year which it operated as a corporate shuttle aircraft, here seen taking off from San Jose bound for Provo 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 features such as Group Policy and Microsoft's
GUI, 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,
United Parcel Service, and the
University of Southern California 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, 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 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 (CTP), founded in
Cambridge, Massachusetts by
John J. Donovan, 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. With the acquisition of CTP, which closed in July 2001, Novell moved its headquarters to
Massachusetts. As for Schmidt, he departed Novell soon after the CTP announcement and headed for
Google, 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, the platform comprised
XML and
web service tools based on
Java EE.
Linux SuSE and Open Enterprise Server In August 2003, Novell acquired
Ximian, a developer of
open source Linux applications (
Evolution,
Red Carpet and
Mono). This acquisition signaled Novell's plans to move its collective product set onto a
Linux kernel. 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 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 (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 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-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 version of SLES called "SUSE Linux Enterprise Real Time" (SLERT), based on technology from
Concurrent Computer Corporation.
Legal actions and reactions Beginning in 2003, Novell became a key player in the
SCO–Linux disputes. The case
SCO Group, Inc. v. Novell, Inc. revolved around the interpretation of the 1995 asset-transfer agreements between Novell and the Santa Cruz Operation, a predecessor company to
The SCO Group – 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 (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 and
OpenOffice.org and better
virtualization techniques. Microsoft CEO
Steve Ballmer 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 runtime—a workalike for the
Microsoft Silverlight rich media platform—for patent infringement. One condition common to each covenant was that no Moonlight implementation be released under the
GPLv3 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 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, CTO of the
Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC), described the agreement as "worse than useless". In a separate development, the chairman of the SFLC,
Eben Moglen, 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, founder of the
Free Software Foundation, 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
grandfathered 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 team expressed strong disapproval of the announcement and asked Novell to reconsider. The team included an employee of Novell,
Jeremy Allison, who confirmed in a comment on
Slashdot 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, 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, Novell restructured its business around the new initiative. Technologies from Novell's 2008 acquisition of Canadian company
PlateSpin were involved. Key to this also was the use of
SUSE Studio, an online Linux software creation tool through which users could develop their own
Linux distribution,
software appliance, or
virtual appliance. Hovsepian said, "Cloud computing is a megatrend that matches the company's core competencies. ... We've developed our Suse appliance tool for application vendors [who have brand new applications being written or built for the cloud]. 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,
VMware, and
Xen. Partnerships in connection with intelligent workload management were announced with
SAP,
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, 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 for , and planned to operate Novell as two units, one being
SUSE. As part of the deal, 882
patents owned by Novell were sold to
CPTN Holdings LLC, a consortium of companies led by
Microsoft and including
Apple,
EMC, and
Oracle. 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, and the
SUSE Linux brand was spun off as its own business unit. The fourth business unit,
Attachmate, 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 open source license, and the
Open Invention Network (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.
Acquisition by Micro Focus and OpenText In September 2014, mainframe software company
Micro Focus 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 AB 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 did not even mention NetWare. In January 2023, Micro Focus was in turn acquired by Canadian software company
OpenText. Again, the former Novell products are listed within OpenText product groups without being identified as to their Novell past. == Companies acquired ==