New Novell UK boss brushes off job cuts

NOVELL UK got a new boss today, the day the software vendor announced it was to axe around 100 jobs worldwide.

Sean McCarry confessed it was "never great" to lay people off, but argues that Novell is well placed to exploit certain opportunities the economic downturn offers plenty of scope for the open sorcerer, plenty of opportunity.

McCarry said, in the UK, Novell has recently expanded its sales force and is enjoying some success proving the value of its brand of open source software.

"Customers are looking for more for less. Open source really does drive that, and offer fresh opportunities for Novell."

McCarry points out that with $1.1 billion in the bank and high growth figures in all its significant markets the firm enters the downturn in good shape.

Microsoft has a big part to play in Novell's future, McCarry confessed. The Microsoft interoperational agreement had so far proved "very substantial" he said.

"Customers come to us with a strategy that puts both Novell and Microsoft in the data centre. It strengthens our offering," McCarry said. µ