Novell To Acquire Tally Systems

Novell plans to buy Tally Systems, a Lebanon, N.H.-based IT management software vendor.

The companies unveiled the deal on Wednesday at Novell's annual Brainshare show in Salt Lake City. Terms of the agreement, expected to close in mid-April, weren't disclosed.

Tally Systems' products include license management, inventory tracking, software usage and trend analysis tools. Such know-how has become increasingly important as customers struggle to comply with software licensing pacts and nascent governmental regulations. The companies said Tally Systems' expertise will bolster Novell's Zenworks systems management offerings.

"Bringing together Tally Systems' asset management with Novell's change and configuration management gives companies a powerful method of ensuring compliance, reducing software costs and preparing for software audits," said Novell Chairman and CEO Jack Messman in a statement.

Tally Systems CEO Ted Jastrzembski agreed that the combination will bring together Novell and Tally's respective resource management and asset management technologies.

Novell's in the midst of moving from its proprietary NetWare legacy to Linux underpinnings. It bought SUSE Linux, and its Linux expertise, just over a year ago for $210 million. That deal was sweetened by IBM's decision to invest $50 million in Novell itself.

Last fall, Novell got a cash infusion in the form of a $536 million settlement from Microsoft.