Novell Announces Major Expansion of Development Centre in India

April 16, 2008 - PRLog -- A continuation of Novell's 14 year commitment to India as a center of technical excellence

Bangalore, April 16, 2008 – Novell today announced the inauguration of its largest engineering facility outside the US, the Novell® India Development Centre (IDC), in new and larger premises at the Bagmane Tech Park, located in Bangalore, India.
The relocation represents an expansion and scaling up of the Novell IDC research and development operation. This new state-of-the-art facility will occupy 10 floors and has the  capacity to accommodate 700 employees.

Novell has made a significant commitment in programs, people, and facilities in India since first entering the country in 1994. Including the recent investment in the India Development Centre the company will have invested an additional $100 million in India over the next three years.

The Novell IDC is a key innovation facility to support Novell’s global engineering initiatives, with primary responsibility for several award-winning Novell products and technologies, including SUSE® Linux Enterprise, ZENworks®, identity and access management solutions, Novell Open Enterprise Server, and much more. The growth in Novell's R&D operations is a reflection of Novell's growing business in systems and resource management, identity and security management, and Linux and platform services. The IDC has also been contributing actively to the growing portfolio of Novell patents. This facility builds on Novell's on-going commitment to India, which has been a key centre of technical excellence since 1994.

The Novell IDC represents a significant addition to the existing commitment to the technical community resident in India, and Bangalore specifically. Novell also has key technical talent in the United States, Canada, Germany, Mexico and the Czech Republic. The India Development Centre represents Novell's largest concentration of technical talent outside the US.

Inaugurating the facility, Ron Hovsepian, CEO of Novell said, “The opening of this facility is yet another step in Novell's efforts to attract and retain the best technical talent around the globe. With the opening of the India Development Centre, this becomes a cornerstone of our product development, engineering and testing, and build-out of our solutions to support our strategy of delivering the best engineered and most interoperable Linux and IT management software. I am proud of this tremendous addition to Novell's capabilities and know it shows our long-term commitment to the region, and our continued efforts to build the best solutions for our customers around the globe.”

Naresh Shah, Managing Director of Novell IDC, added, “We are excited to expand our base of operations in Bangalore. The Novell IDC has end-to-end product development and product management responsibilities for several products, and full ownership of components of other global products. This clearly signifies the importance of the India facility for the company. The right blend of technology oriented work, good infrastructure, and a great work culture enables us to attract talented engineers and serve our global customers. ”

Novell IDC is located at  Bagmane Tech Park in Bangalore, which is a self-contained business environment covering 52 acres of prime land. While designing the facility, emphasis has been put into using the right building material in order to maintain a green facility.  Some of the salient features that have been incorporated include effective energy management systems to minimize energy consumption such as use of wind energy for electric power, use of rain harvesting and solar based water- heating and usage of ceramic coated external glazing to allow maximum natural light penetration. In addition paints, adhesives and other materials used were specifically chosen with low VOC characteristics for environmental reasons. Many materials such as carpeting, acoustic tiles and other items were made from recycled materials.

Marking the occasion, Novell is holding a three-day long celebration that concludes with the family day when employees will bring their families to tour the new facility. In addition, several of Novell's leadership team are in attendance; including  CEO, Ron Hovsepian, along with  Senior Executives Kent Erickson,  Joe Wagner and Maarten Koster.

About Novell
Novell, Inc.  delivers the best engineered, most interoperable Linux* platform and a portfolio of integrated IT management software that helps customers around the world reduce cost, complexity and risk. With our infrastructure software and ecosystem of partnerships, Novell harmoniously integrates mixed IT environments, allowing people and technology to work as one. For more information, visit www.novell.com.


Novell, SUSE and ZENworks are registered trademarks of Novell, Inc. in the United States and other countries.  *Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.  All other third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.


Press Contacts
Rishu Khushu,
Novell IDC
Tel – 080 41869000
Email – krishu@novell.com

Shweta Shukla
Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide
Tel - 98 20 39 07 07
E-mail: Shweta.Shukla@ogilvy.com