Novell acquires Ximian

By Alun Williams

Posted on 5 Aug 2003 at 17:49

Novell has acquired Ximian, the Boston-based company that is a force in the Open Source world. The move is intended to drive Novell's growth into the Linux arena and the company believes it is buying 'best-of-breed Linux desktop, groupware and management technologies'.

Ximian is best known for its work with the Mono and GNOME projects, and Novell has promised continuing support for these ventures. Mono is an open source shadowing of the Microsoft .Net framework and GNOME is a well-established Linux GUI.

The Ximian Evolution calendar and contract management system also features in distros such as Red Hat Linux, and support for it was among the document sharing capabilities recently advanced by OpenGroupware.org.

'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,' he added, '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.'

The Ximian perspective was that the deal would help drive the growth of Linux. 'Together, Novell and Ximian offer tremendous benefits for customers,' said David Patrick, president and CEO of Ximian. 'Our breakthrough management and desktop products strongly complement Novell applications on Linux and Novell Nterprise Linux Services. Novell as an enterprise company is the ideal choice for us to drive growth for the Linux market as a whole.'

The new Ximian operation will be known as, wait for it, the Novell Ximian Services business unit at Novell.

More details from the official announcement can be read on the Ximian website.