Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss

SCO ACQUIRES UNIX BUSINESS FROM NOVELL

0 views
Skip to first unread message

SCO Information

unread,
Sep 20, 1995, 3:00:00 AM9/20/95
to

SCO ACQUIRES UNIX BUSINESS FROM NOVELL
AND LICENSES NETWARE TECHNOLOGY

Novell Takes 17% Equity Position in SCO


NEW YORK, NY (September 19, 1995) -- The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc.
(NASDAQ:SCOC) and Novell, Inc. (NASDAQ: NOVL) today announced a
definitive agreement for SCO to purchase the UNIX business from Novell.
Under the agreement, Novell will receive approximately 6.1 million shares
of SCO common stock, resulting in an ownership position of approximately
17% (post transaction) of the outstanding SCO capital stock. SCO will also
license Novell's NetWare Directory Services and other NetWare 4
technologies as the basis for future networking services. SCO plans to
merge the SCO OpenServer Release 5 and UnixWare 2 product lines to
create a standard high-volume UNIX operating system that contains
integrated NetWare networking services, and expects to release this
merged product in 1997.

Alok Mohan, president and CEO of SCO, said, "This extends SCO's
leadership position in the Business Critical Server market. Our customers
and resellers not only get a powerful UNIX operating system, but also the
most advanced network services in the world. Novell's advanced network
services, such as NetWare Directory Services, are setting the standard for
business networking. Our customers will be able to integrate their Business
Critical Servers with their existing workgroups to provide their people with
greater access to corporate data."

"SCO's Business Critical Server focus and worldwide distribution channel
makes them an ideal partner for taking UNIX application servers forward on
the Intel platform," said Robert J. Frankenberg, chairman and CEO of
Novell. By focusing on our areas of expertise, and working to integrate our
technologies, Novell and SCO together will meet the application server
needs of customers in a networked world."

According to the terms of the agreement, SCO will acquire Novell's
UnixWare business and UNIX intellectual property. In order to meet
customer support needs and protect development requirements, SCO
intends to hire a number of Novell employees. In addition to the SCO stock,
Novell will receive a revenue stream back from SCO based on revenue
performance of the purchased UNIX business. This revenue stream will
end in the year 2002 and is not to exceed $84 million net present value.

SCO and Novell expect the agreement to close on or about December 1,
1995, conditional upon several items including U.S. government approval
under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act. Shareholder approval is not required by
either party.

SCO has outlined a product roadmap in which both SCO OpenServer and
UnixWare will initially continue to be individually supported and enhanced.
Upcoming releases include enhanced SCO OpenServer and UnixWare
products, containing integrated NetWare services, in the first half of 1996.
In the summer of 1996, SCO expects to release a beta version of the
product that merges SCO OpenServer and UnixWare, with a complete
software migration toolkit. This beta kit will enable developers to begin
developing their applications to a single merged product line that contains
the best capabilities of both environments. SCO expects to release the final
version of this merged product, containing integrated NetWare services, in
1997. The merged product will offer binary compatibility with existing SCO
OpenServer and UnixWare applications, as well as a full set of migration
tools to ensure that developers can easily develop for the new line from
either predecessor.

SCO will continue to offer UnixWare source code to existing and new OEM
licensees worldwide. Existing Certified Novell Engineers (CNEs) for
UnixWare are fully certified to support UnixWare products from SCO.

In order to smooth the transition for existing customers of SCO OpenServer
and UnixWare to the future merged product, SCO plans to offer a number
of enhancements to the product lines over the coming months. These
include UNIX 95 compliance; NetWare file, print, and directory services;
and tools that allow software developers to quickly create a single binary
that will run on SCO OpenServer Release 5, UnixWare 2, and the next-
generation merged operating system.

SCO is the world's leader for UNIX System servers and multiuser hosts.
SCO Business Critical Servers run the critical, day-to-day operations of
large branch organizations in retail, finance, and government, as well as
corporate departments and small to medium-sized businesses of every kind.
SCO is also a leading supplier of client-integration software that integrates
Windows PCs and other clients with UNIX servers from all of the major
vendors. SCO sells and supports its products through a worldwide network
of distributors, resellers, systems integrators, and OEMs.

The business of Novell, Inc. is connecting people with other people and the
information they need, enabling them to act on it anytime, anywhere. Novell
is the world's leading network software provider. The company's software
products provide the distributed infrastructure, network services, advanced
network access and network applications required to make networked
information and computing an integral part of everyone's daily life.

# # #

SCO, The Santa Cruz Operation, the SCO logo, and SCO OpenServer are registered
trademarks of The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. in the USA and other countries.
NetWare and UnixWare are registered trademarks of Novell, Inc.. UNIX is a
registered trademark in the US and other countries, licensed exclusively
through X/Open Company Limited. All other brand or product names are or may be
trademarks of, and are used to identify products or services of, their
respective owners.


0 new messages