Novell axes CEO and CFO

As Novell continues to decline in growth and sees other companies taking over what used to be their bread and butter (such as Microsoft), they've been forced to make decisions on how to recover. Most recently, their long time CEO Jack Messman has been let go, forcibly, and is being replaced by the younger Ron Hovespian. Due to Hovespian's experience with larger IT firms, Novell's board believes he can help the company grow.

Hovespian's appointment marks the summit of a fairly meteoric rise at Novell. He only joined the firm in 2003 following 17 years at IBM. He said: "We will maintain a sharp focus in meeting customer demand and delivering value through Linux-based, enterprise-wide solutions and identity and resource management products."
The change in management has proven to be good for Novell, resulting in an increase of company value. But is it too late? Novell's business strategy had to be completely altered, and their long-time moneymaker Novell Netware is nearly dead. There's still a lot of questioning as to where, exactly, they fit int today's IT world.