Novell’s HQ Move Raises Questions About NetWare

Novell Inc. officially put its headquarters flag in Waltham, Mass., last week when it designated its address there in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing last week. But the move, in the works for some time, came as no surprise and will have no effect on operations, according to the company.

The dual-headquarters designation for Novell between Provo, Utah, and Waltham was dropped recently, but several observers said the move is a natural extension of Novell’s move toward open-source delivery and services.

“With the acquisition of SuSE [Linux], it was no longer the Novell of NetWare. It merged with an integration company,” said Frank Dzubeck, president of Washington-based consulting firm Communication Network Architects Inc. “Relocating [headquarters] to the home office of the integration parent was the natural thing to do. [With that merger] it ceased to be a software development company and Utah ceased to have the focus it had in the past.”

Not only was the SuSE Linux acquisition a factor, but the Ximian acquisition, the acquisition of Cambridge Technology Partners and the location of several high-level executives in the Boston area made the move a foregone conclusion.

“All the executives were already there. The upper management in Provo doesn’t go very high now,” said John Enck, a vice president at Gartner Inc. in Loveland, Colo.

Novell officials said there will be no relocation or further layoff of personnel as a result of the action. Novell in its third fiscal quarter of last year cut 600 positions.

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