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- Novell Acquires Annatek Systems Inc.
- Electronic Software Distribution and Management Innovator
-
- PROVO, Utah -- June 11, 1992 -- Novell (NASDAQ: NOVL) today announced the
- signing of a definitive agreement to acquire Annatek Systems Inc.,
- developer of automated software distribution and management systems that
- centralize software distribution, installation, update, version tracking,
- and event scheduling between mainframes, servers, desktop clients and
- other network resources.
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- New software distribution services from Novell will significantly reduce
- the cost of software maintenance on Novell networks and improve
- ease-of-use. The additional services will add to the current suite of
- NetWare products that provide network management, communications,
- database, messaging and integration services on the network. Annatek's
- current product family, Network Navigator, will continue to be developed
- and supported.
-
- "Automated software distribution that dramatically reduces the cost of
- software management has become a mission-critical requirement for many
- Novell customers," said Jan Newman, Novell executive vice president and
- general manager NetWare Systems Group. "Annatek has distinguished itself
- as the leader in delivering these services. Combined with development
- work already underway at Novell, we expect Annatek to accelerate our
- abilities to provide network managers with comprehensive software
- distribution as part of the array of services available with NetWare
- network solutions. Annatek reflects Novell's strategy to extend the
- capabilities of NetWare network computing solutions."
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- Novell will exchange $10 million cash for all outstanding shares of
- Annatek stock. The nine year old Boulder, Colorado company was privately
- held and funded with venture capital. Annatek has become a part of
- Novell's NetWare Systems Group and will continue to operate from its
- facilities in Boulder.
-
- "It's gratifying to measure Annatek's success by the customer needs we've
- met in supporting innovative information system managers at many large
- organizations," said Frank Richardson, president and chief executive
- officer of Annatek. "We've built a profitable and stable organization
- that has proven itself as a trusted vendor partner. In joining Novell we
- are reinforcing these qualities by becoming an important part of Novell's
- rapidly growing network systems solution business."
-
- Commenting on the merger, William Kirwin, vice president PC Policies &
- Strategies at Gartner Group said, "Annatek's Network Navigator is the most
- functional software distribution package on the market. With the
- Annatek/Novell merger, there's an opportunity for network software
- management to become more effective, even as the network is becoming more
- complicated."
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- Novell intends to offer standard software distribution and management
- services from network servers running the NetWare operating system. These
- new services will allow NetWare servers to manage the simultaneous
- "fan-out" distribution of software to desktop computers, whether the
- software is initially installed directly on a server, on other network
- resources, or downloaded from a host computer.
-
- Novell, Inc. is an operating system software company and developer of
- network services and specialized and general purpose operating system
- software products, including NetWare and DR DOS. Novell's NetWare network
- computing products manage and control the sharing of services, data and
- applications among computer workgroups, departmental networks and
- business-wide information systems.
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