How a Utah carpet warehouse birthed the company that once dominated global computer networking.
Before Microsoft bundled networking into Windows, Novell ruled the digital landscape. Under CEO Ray Noorda, the company pioneered the concept of coopetition, building a massive ecosystem of resellers and partners. At its peak, Novell held a 63 percent market share, connecting over 50 million users through its legendary NetWare operating system.
Novell began in 1980 as Novell Data Systems, a struggling hardware manufacturer based in a former carpet warehouse in Orem, Utah. After failing to find success with microcomputers, the company pivoted to software under the leadership of Ray Noorda, a turnaround expert who joined in 1983. Noorda transformed Novell into a networking powerhouse by focusing on NetWare, a high-speed operating system that allowed businesses to link PCs, printers, and files across local area networks. This shift proved remarkably well-timed as the IBM PC became a standard business tool.
The company's rapid ascent was driven by a unique strategy Noorda called coopetition. Rather than fighting every competitor, Novell encouraged an ecosystem where hardware rivals like 3Com and IBM sold their own networking cards for use with NetWare. By empowering a massive channel of 13,000 value-added resellers and creating certification programs for engineers, Novell effectively outsourced its sales and support. This network of evangelists helped the company grow from 15 employees in 1983 to over 4,300 by 1993, while its stock price climbed twelve-fold between 1986 and 1991.
Despite its dominance, Novell eventually faltered as Microsoft began bundling networking capabilities directly into the Windows NT operating system. Attempts to compete by acquiring companies like WordPerfect and Unix System Laboratories proved unsuccessful, as these new technologies failed to integrate smoothly with Novell's existing base. By the mid-1990s, the company entered a long period of decline, never regaining its former status. Novell was eventually acquired by The Attachmate Group in 2011, and its remaining technologies were later integrated into OpenText, marking the end of an era for the firm that once defined the connected enterprise.
The legacy of Novell remains tied to its impact on the Utah technology scene and its role in displacing the mainframe computing model. While the company failed to maintain its market lead against Microsoft, its influence on how businesses adopted networked computing was profound. From its humble beginnings in a Utah industrial park to its status as the second-largest software maker of its time, Novell remains a case study in the volatile nature of the personal computer industry.
Source: Novell
