Novell has shaken up its channel management ranks, naming former Hyperion Vice President Pat Bernard to the newly created position of vice president of global channel sales, where she will have responsibility for all of the company's sales through the channel.

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At the same time, Steve Erdman, vice president of channels and alliances for the Americas, considered the company's channel chief, has left the company. He joined Novell in February 2006 from Dell, and also has worked for 3Com and IBM. A Novell spokesperson said that Bernard is not a replacement for Erdman.

In her new role, Bernard will work with Novell's geography channel leads and business unit sales executives in the design, implementation and management of Novell's indirect sales channel, the spokesperson said.

The move is part of a broader effort by the company to improve its routes-to-market during the current fiscal year—an initiative that has included increased activity with its largest ISV and independent hardware vendor partners such as Microsoft, IBM, Dell and SAP, among others.

"But we've also been focused on our channel program, and have been taking steps to make it even easier for solution providers to do business with Novell," the spokesperson said. "The appointment of Pat Bernard to oversee that process on a global level is part of this effort."

Bernard has worked in the IT space for 25 years, most recently in the channel and partnering space, in positions at Hyperion Solutions, Siebel Systems, Aspect Communications and Compaq Computer.