Novell Finally Makes Move Worth Noting

Ah, at last: The VAR Guy is impressed with a Novell acquisition. Sure, our resident blogger has been hard on Novell in recent years. But Novell deserves some kudos for acquiring a small — but strategic — maker of endpoint security solutions. Here’s why.

The deal, announced today, involves Senforce Technologies. Acquiring Senforce allows Novell to strengthen its ZENworks family of administration and security tools. The deal also pushes Novell deeper into the government market, where Senforce has enjoyed particularly strong success, The VAR Guy notes.

Still, Novell continues to face an uphill battle. The company’s security and open source revenues are growing — but declines in Novell’s legacy NetWare business have led to mixed overall results. The VAR Guy in March 2007 suggested that Novell should break itself up.

Instead, Novell appears to be doubling-down on the security market with Senforce. Definitely a compelling move.