IBM and Novell Announce Preload agreement

Novell Announces Expanded Commercial Agreement With IBM 

*	Agreement enables IBM to ship SUSE LINUX Enterprise
	Server across its servers
* 	Novell will develop and support SUSE LINUX on IBM platforms

Salt Lake City (BrainShare® 2004) - March 23, 2004 - Novell today announced
an agreement with IBM enabling IBM to ship SUSE® LINUX Enterprise Server,
which customers license from Novell, with IBM's servers. This agreement will
provide Novell an exciting new channel to supply SUSE LINUX to businesses
around the world.

As part of today's agreement, IBM can ship, or preload, SUSE LINUX
Enterprise Server across its entire server line, including IBM eServer
iSeries, pSeries, xSeries, and zSeries, as well as IBM's eServer BladeCenter
systems.* The parties have extended IBM's existing agreement with SUSE
LINUX, and Novell will continue to develop and support SUSE LINUX on all IBM
server platforms.

"The momentum behind Linux in the marketplace continues to grow," said Jack
Messman, chairman and CEO of Novell. "Novell is working with companies like
IBM to deliver the powerful, fully supported SUSE LINUX platform on leading
enterprise servers. Customers know that they're getting top-quality
performance backed by the global technical support and services they need
from Novell. This marks a critical step in making Linux mainstream in the
corporate data center."

Today's announcement is expected to increase choices for customers deploying
Linux. By enabling IBM to ship SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server on its servers,
it can help make buying, deploying and managing Linux easier and more cost
effective for customers. With the power of SUSE LINUX's configuration and
installation management tools, customers can deploy SUSE LINUX on IBM into
mixed networking environments more easily, gaining the cost and flexibility
benefits of Linux without sacrificing the enterprise strength capabilities
they need. 
"This is an important milestone and we are extremely pleased with our
growing business relationship with Novell, one of the premier providers of
Linux in the world," said Jim Stallings, general manager of corporate Linux
for IBM. "Offering customers more choice is important. Linux delivers a
compelling value proposition that enables many businesses worldwide to
deploy large-scale engagements that benefit from the advantages of Linux,
including lower costs, greater stability and increased security." 
Forward-looking Statements
This press release includes statements that are not historical in nature and
that may be characterized as "forward-looking statements," including those
related to future financial and operating results, benefits and synergies of
the company's brands and strategies, future opportunities and the growth of
the market for open source solutions. You should be aware that Novell's
actual results could differ materially from those contained in the
forward-looking statements, which are based on current expectations of
Novell management and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties,
including, but not limited to, Novell's ability to integrate acquired
operations and employees, Novell's success in executing its Linux
strategies, Novell's ability to deliver on its one Net vision of the
Internet, Novell's ability to take a competitive position in the Linux
industry, the outcome of potential Linux-related litigation, business
conditions and the general economy, market opportunities, potential new
business strategies, competitive factors, sales and marketing execution,
shifts in technologies or market demand, and the other factors described in
Novell's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the 2003 fiscal year. Novell
disclaims any intention or obligation to update any forward-looking
statements as a result of developments occurring after the date of this
press release. 
About Novell
Novell, Inc. (Nasdaq: NOVL) is a leading provider of information solutions
that deliver secure identity management (Novell Nsure(tm)), Web application
development (Novell exteNd(tm)) and cross-platform networking services
(Novell Nterprise(tm)), all supported by strategic consulting and
professional services (Novell NgageSM). Active in the open source community
with its Ximian® and SUSE LINUX brands, Novell provides a full range of
Linux products and services for the enterprise, from the desktop to the
server. Novell's vision of one Net - a world without information boundaries
- helps customers realize the value of their information securely and
economically. For more information, call Novell's Customer Response Center
at (888) 321-4CRC (4272) or visit <http://www.novell.com>. Press should
visit <http://www.novell.com/pressroom>.
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Novell and Ximian are registered trademarks; BrainShare is a registered
service mark; Nsure, exteNd, and Nterprise are trademarks; and Ngage is a
service mark of Novell, Inc. in the United States and other countries. SUSE
is a registered trademark of SUSE AG, a Novell company. *IBM, the e-business
logo, eServer, iSeries, pSeries, xSeries, zSeries, and BladeCenter are
trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines
Corporation in the United States and other countries.