MESSAGE
| DATE | 2003-08-04 |
| FROM | From: "Inker, Evan"
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [hangout] Novell Acquires Ximian
|
PR: Novell Acquires Ximian
Aug 4, 2003, 13 :30 UTC (4 Talkback[s] <> ) (628 reads)
Novell, Inc., today announced it has acquired privately held Ximian of
Boston, Mass. This acquisition expands Novell's capacity to provide flexible
information solutions to customers worldwide.
The acquisition of Ximian expands Novell's ability to support Linux
solutions as the company adds best-of-breed Linux desktop, groupware and
management technologies, and welcomes several of the open source community's
leading visionaries to the Novell(r) team and a strong core of Linux
developers into the Novell fold.
Novell gains, and will carry forward, two key Linux market initiatives
through Ximian that reinforce Novell's commitment to the open source
community: GNOME, a project to provide a full-featured Linux desktop, and
Mono, designed to allow applications developed using Microsoft .NET to run
on Linux, UNIX, Windows and other platforms. The combination of Novell's
network and infrastructure services with Ximian's Linux solutions provides
compelling new value to customers leveraging the power of open source
technologies.
"Linux is the fastest-growing platform in the market today because it helps
customers meet challenges effectively, both from a cost and a performance
perspective," said Jack Messman, chairman and CEO of Novell. "But customers
still face two key business issues: how to provide cost-effective management
and maintenance of Linux systems, and how to deploy and support low-cost
Linux desktops within the organization. Novell now delivers market-leading
solutions for both. Just as important, Ximian brings Novell unparalleled
Linux expertise, helping us not only deliver more value to customers, but
also strengthening our ability to work with and leverage open source
initiatives more constructively."
"Together, Novell and Ximian offer tremendous benefits for customers," said
David Patrick, president and CEO of Ximian, now general manager of what will
be called the Novell Ximian Services business unit at Novell. "Our
breakthrough management and desktop products strongly complement Novell
applications on Linux and Novell Nterprise Linux Services. The global Novell
channel, partnerships with industry leaders and proven customer support will
benefit customers. Novell as an enterprise company is the ideal choice for
us to drive growth for the Linux market as a whole."
Ximian, a market-leading Linux company founded in 1999, has over a million
users worldwi
de of its desktop and management products aimed at lowering the total cost
of Linux ownership for enterprise customers. Ximian Red Carpet is the de
facto standard for software updating across leading Linux distributions. Red
Carpet Enterprise software provides enterprise customers with centralized
software management of Linux servers and desktops. Over time, Red Carpet
Enterprise will be tightly integrated into the Novell ZENworks product line,
leveraging Novell directory services and policies management functionality.
Ximian Desktop 2 (XD2) is a complete Linux desktop environment and a tightly
integrated suite of Linux desktop applications that delivers robust support
for Windows file formats, networks and standards. Ximian Evolution software
seamlessly integrates e-mail, calendaring, contact management and task lists
in one easy-to-use application that connects to popular corporate
communications architectures like Microsoft Exchange, Sun ONE and, soon,
Novell GroupWise via client-side Ximian Connector extensions. These
solutions, supporting Red Hat, SuSE and other leading Linux distributions,
make Ximian software a strong choice for organizations using Linux desktops
within a mixed Windows/Linux computing environment.
"This acquisition allows us to pursue our shared goal, and that is to reduce
the barriers to Linux adoption in the enterprise. This combination can do
just that, and make Novell the number one Linux solutions company in the
process," said Nat Friedman, Ximian co-founder and senior vice president,
now vice president of research and development in the Novell Ximian Services
business unit at Novell. "We're extremely excited to join with Novell to
pursue a shared vision of leadership in a full range of integrated Linux
desktop and server software for the enterprise, backed by world-class
management tools, support and services. We also believe that Novell's
commitment and resources can help further energize a very dynamic open
source development community."
Ximian plays an important leadership role in the broader open source
community and helps drive several key open source projects. Ximian's
founders Miguel de Icaza and Nat Friedman, well-known open source
visionaries, helped found the GNOME and Mono projects, both initiatives they
will continue to lead at Novell.
The GNOME project, initiated by de Icaza in 1997 and involving hundreds of
developers globally, is creating a full-featured open source desktop,
including a set of development tools; file, desktop management and help
systems; and a set of applications, including spreadsheets, word processors,
Web browsers, image editors and music players. The GNOME Foundation, which
includes Friedman, de Icaza and other Ximian employees on its board, boasts
IBM, HP, Sun and Red Hat among its members.
The Mono project is an open source effort led by Ximian to provide
developers with open source tools for building cross-platform Microsoft .NET
applications that can run on Linux, UNIX, and other support platforms. More
than 150 developers worldwide contribute to Mono, including a range of
companies building commercial products using Mono technology.
De Icaza, CTO of Ximian and now chief technology officer for the Novell
Ximian Services business unit of Novell, said, "It's a huge step forward for
the open source community to gain strong support from a company like Novell.
Initiatives like GNOME and Mono will only improve with Novell's resources
behind them. Novell has already made a strong commitment to open source with
its recent decision to put the full range of its network services on Linux
and its inclusion of MySQL, Apache and other open source technologies in
NetWare. Ximian's leadership within the open source community along with
Novell's strength and reputation in the enterprise market are a powerful
combination that will help move GNOME and Mono forward."
The acquisition of Ximian was an all-cash transaction and is not expected to
have a material effect on Novell's financial statements in the current
fiscal year. No further details as to the specific terms of the transaction
are being disclosed.
http://linuxtoday.com/it_management/2003080402026NWBZ
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