Novell Making Gains in Europe on the Desktop

BARCELONA, Spain, (BrainShare(R) 2005), Sept. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Novell (Nasdaq: NOVL) today announced the growing adoption of Linux* on the desktop in Europe, in both the public and private sectors. Many IT organizations are choosing Novell(R) Linux Desktop for transactional, engineering and fixed-function workstations because of the cost and security benefits Linux provides over Windows*. As a result, hardware and software costs are reduced and systems are more secure.

Recent Novell Linux Desktop customers include SEB Eesti Uhispank, the largest bank in Estonia, which is using Novell Linux Desktop for bank teller workstations and SUSE(TM) Linux Enterprise Server for servers and the data center. Automotive logistics solutions provider ARS Altmann of Germany has begun its Novell Linux Desktop deployment, as has the municipality of Baerum, Norway, which is migrating 40 schools from Windows to Novell Linux Desktop.

"We have been evaluating Novell Linux Desktop intensely for some time and will now start our first roll-out in October," said Peter Laubsch, IT manager for ARS Altmann AG. "Our goal is to achieve a higher security level and single sign-on for a number of applications, systems and databases including our DB2 database on IBM* iSeries*."

Siri Opheim, IT manager for Baerum, said, "While we don't expect to move every user in our enterprise to Linux desktops, we believe we can achieve real savings by starting to move users in education. In the pilot we have used Novell Linux Desktop with very promising results, and we expect to begin the migration at the end of 2005."

"Instead of a 'one-size-fits-all' approach, Novell Linux Desktop can be customized to provide the right fit across different workstations in the enterprise," said David Patrick, vice president and general manager of Linux, Open Source Platforms and Services for Novell. "So businesses finally have a secure and cost-effective alternative to Windows that serves the customer's ROI rather than a vendor's proprietary licensing program."

More information about Novell Linux Desktop can be found at http://www.novell.com/desktop . About Novell

Novell, Inc. delivers software for the open enterprise. With more than 50,000 customers in 43 countries, Novell helps customers manage, simplify, secure and integrate their technology environments by leveraging best-of-breed, open standards-based software. With over 20 years of experience, Novell's 6,000 employees, 5,000 partners and support centers around the world help customers gain control over their IT operating environment while reducing cost. More information about Novell can be found at http://www.novell.com . NOTE: Novell is a registered trademark, SUSE is a trademark, and BrainShare is a registered service mark of Novell, Inc. in the United States and other countries. *Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. IBM is a registered trademark and iSeries is a trademark of IBM Corporation. All other third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.