Editing Novell (section)

=== {{anchor|NDSI}}Origins as a hardware company ===
[[Image:2005 dmajor bw.jpg|thumb|left|Novell's chief scientist was Drew Major, here seen later in his career]]
The company began as '''Novell Data Systems Inc.''' ('''NDSI'''), a [[computer systems]] company located in [[Orem, Utah]] that intended to manufacture and market small business computers, computer terminals, and other peripherals.<ref name="PHI_newcompany_1980"/><ref name="DH_founders_1981"/> It was co-founded by George Canova and Jack Davis,<ref name="DH_saving_1986"/><ref name="NW_ninethings_2007"/> two experienced computer industry executives.<ref name="DH_founders_1981"/> While some later sources place the creation of Novell Data Systems as having happened in 1979,<ref name="Novell_2001_Milestones"/> more contemporaneous sources are in accordance with it happening in August 1980.<ref name="DH_founders_1981"/><ref name="PHI_newcompany_1980"/> Canova became president of the new company and Davis was in charge of sales and marketing.<ref name="DH_Orem_1981"/> The suggestion for the company's name came from Canova's wife, who thought it meant "new" in French (in fact the French word is either the masculine ''nouveau'' or the feminine ''nouvelle'').<ref name="NW_ninethings_2007"/> While future [[Brigham Young University]] professor and Eyring Research Institute (ERI) figure [[Dennis Fairclough]] was not a founder of Novell Data Systems, he did work with the company from its early days.<ref name="DH_BYU_1985"/>

A funding proposal was brought to [[Pete Musser]], chairman of the board of [[Safeguard Scientifics, Inc.]], a Pennsylvania-based, technology-focused venture capital firm that was an offshoot of the older Safeguard Business Systems.<ref name="OH_Musser_2019"/> Safeguard Scientifics believed that a new computer systems company could help the Business Systems company automate their accounting systems.<ref name="OH_Musser_2019"/> Accordingly, Safeguard Scientifics provided over $2 million in seed funding,<ref name="PHI_newcompany_1980"/> and they became the majority owner of Novell Data Systems.<ref name="DH_founders_1981"/> Canova also owned a significant portion of the new company.<ref name="PHI_newcompany_1980"/>

Novell Data Systems set up offices in a former carpet warehouse located in an obscure industrial park down the road from the largely vacant [[Geneva Steel]] works.<ref name="DH_Orem_1995"/><ref name="SLT_success_1986"/> By November 1980, they were placing display ads in the classifieds pages of Utah Valley newspapers, seeking to hire hardware and software engineers and other staff.<ref name="Classifieds_1980"/>

At first the company began to grow rapidly.<ref name="DH_founders_1981"/> By mid-1981 the company was selling two products, the Nexus Series [[microcomputer]] and the Image 800 [[dot matrix printer]].<ref name="DH_founders_1981"/><ref name="DH_Orem_1981"/> Orders began shipping during the second half of 1981.<ref name="DMR_NDSI_1982"/> The computer product was based on the [[Zilog Z80]] microprocessor and the [[CP/M]] operating system.<ref name="NW_ninethings_2007"/>

The company subsequently did not do well.<ref name="DH_saving_1986"/> The microcomputer produced by the company was late to an increasingly crowded market and was noncompetitive in terms of performance when it did arrive.<ref name="DH_saving_1986"/><ref name="SLT_success_1986"/> According to one paraphrase of a [[Value Line]] report on Novell Data Systems as a whole during this period, their "revenue was minimal, but expenses were tremendous."<ref name="DMR_NDSI_1982"/> Davis was fired from Novell Data Systems<ref name="OH_Musser_2019"/> in November 1981.<!-- http://www.whiteworld.com/cyreenikland/books/surfing/surf-02a.htm -->

[[Image:Ne2000.jpg|thumb|right|Novell made some networking hardware products even after NetWare became a success; here, a Novell NE2000 16-bit ISA 10BASE-2 Ethernet card from 1990]]

In order to compete on systems sales, Novell Data Systems planned a program to link more than one microcomputer to operate together.<!-- http://www.whiteworld.com/cyreenikland/books/surfing/surf-01l.htm --> The current or former [[Brigham Young University|BYU]] students [[Drew Major]], Dale Neibaur, and Kyle Powell, known as the [[SuperSet Software]] group, were hired to this task and began consulting for Novell during 1981.<ref name="PCM_nominee_1987"/> They developed a [[multiplayer video game]], ''[[Snipes (video game)|Snipes]]''.<ref name="white20180126">{{Cite web |last=White |first=Bradford Morgan |date=2018-01-26 |title=The History of Novell |url=https://www.abortretry.fail/p/the-history-of-novell |access-date=2024-04-19 |website=Abort Retry Fail |language=en}}</ref>

During the first calendar quarter of 1982, heavy costs continued to be incurred at Novell Data Systems, which resulted in management shuffles, organizational consolidations, and a significant [[layoff]].<ref name="DH_Canova_1982"/><ref name="DMR_Safeguard_1982"/> Canova was fired and Jack Messman, representing Safeguard Scientifics, was named president.<ref name="DH_Canova_1982"/> Seeing ''Snipes'' being played on three different types of personal computers persuaded Messman that SuperSet's networking technology was valuable.{{r|white20180126}} The poor performance of Novell Data Systems resulted in losses being announced in April 1982 for the publicly-held Safeguard Scientifics and put pressure on that company's stock price.<ref name="DMR_Safeguard_1982"/> However, by this point the computer-linking work that the SuperSet group had produced was drawing considerable interest and Novell Data Systems was describing themselves as a company that made not just stand-alone microcomputers but also products for [[local area network]]ing (LAN).<ref name="DH_Canova_1982"/><ref name="DH_products_1982"/> The dual emphasis on hardware and software products continued for several months but continued to have troubled results, and in July 1982 another round of layoffs took place which resulted in the employee count being reduced from 50 people to 30.<ref name="DH_layoffs_1982"/>

At that time Safeguard reported that it would be writing down $3.4 million in losses due to Novell Data Systems' switch from being a hardware company to a software company.<ref name="PHI_Safeguard_1982"/> Throughout 1982 there were further management shuffles with other people being named president of the company.<ref name="NYT_Noorda_1992"/> Major, Neibaur, and Powell continued to support Novell through their SuperSet Software group.<ref name="PCM_nominee_1987"/> As Major later said, "It was great that our hardware was so lousy because that gave us the idea that hardware wasn't really where the value was."<ref name="NYT_Noorda_1992"/>

Two other important NDSI employees were strategist Craig Burton and communications specialist Judith Clarke.<ref name="PCM_NetWare386_1989"/> Despite its struggles, Novell Data Systems had a presence at the [[COMDEX]] show in Las Vegas in November 1982; a man named [[Ray Noorda]] saw it and become interested in the company's potential.<ref name="NYT_Noorda_1992"/><ref name="OH_Musser_2019"/>