Novell to Provide Security, Systems Management and Linux to United Kingdom's National Health Service

WALTHAM, Mass., Dec. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Novell (Nasdaq: NOVL) today announced a 21.8 million pounds Sterling ($39 million) contract with the United Kingdom's leading Department of Health agency for a comprehensive set of security, management and infrastructure solutions that will improve delivery of health services to UK citizens. The three year agreement with the National Health Service (NHS) Connecting for Health program lets NHS leverage Novell(R) solutions across the entire NHS infrastructure, comprising upwards of 600,000 workstations, and will result in substantial cost savings for the NHS. As a strategic partner, Novell will help the NHS deliver its National Programme for IT, improving patient care and services and transforming the way the NHS works.

"NHS Connecting for Health is leading the way in ensuring the NHS is getting the best possible deal for its IT systems and services across the board," said Richard Granger, director general of NHS IT. "This deal with Novell also reduces the barriers for the NHS in using open source, as it secures access to an enterprise class open source platform along with, more importantly, affordable support, maintenance and training to help our NHS staff make the transition."

The agreement will enable NHS Connecting for Health to achieve its key IT infrastructure vision for the NHS: to deliver greater consistency of IT infrastructure by rationalizing the number of products in use, standardize the approach to implementing products, and increase the productivity of staff by leveraging IT more effectively. The new IT infrastructure and systems will ultimately connect more than 100,000 doctors, 380,000 nurses and 50,000 other healthcare professionals, benefiting more than 50 million patients in England.

Under the terms of the agreement, the NHS gains enterprise-wide use of Novell Identity Manager for security and access control and Novell ZENworks(R) for managing workstations. NHS will also deploy Novell Open Enterprise Server in parts of the organization, allowing it to transition seamlessly its existing NetWare(R) services to Linux without needing to replace existing infrastructure. To standardize technology deployed across the NHS, NHS Connecting for Health will promote adoption of specifically designed Novell solution packages across the entire NHS IT infrastructure.

Novell will also provide consulting resources to help the NHS develop strategic solutions to deliver the National Programme for IT and ensure best practices throughout all NHS divisions. In addition, Novell will provide NHS staff extensive training to ensure the organization maximises the value of its Novell technology.

"Organizations like the NHS are increasingly demanding solutions that are based on open standards, since this gives them the flexibility to adapt to constantly changing requirements at their speed," said Tom Francese, president, Europe, Middle East and Africa for Novell. "Novell in uniquely positioned to deliver standards-based security and management solutions, as well as open infrastructure, including Linux, to NHS. This will help NHS get more out of every pound they spend, while also making it easier for the thousands of doctors, nurses and other NHS staff to better serve the UK public." About Novell

Novell, Inc. delivers software for the open enterprise(TM). 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, more than 5,000 employees, 5,000 partners and support centers around the world, Novell helps 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, NetWare and ZENworks are registered trademarks of Novell, Inc. in the United States and other countries.