Novell Launches New Publishing Partnership

Novell Inc. has launched a new publishing partnership and spun off its magazine division.

Company officials announced last week that management had structured a buyout of the division, which publishes WordPerfect Magazine, WordPerfect for Windows Magazine and other computer-oriented publications.

The new owners form IVY International Communications Inc., which will maintain offices in Orem and the Ukraine.

IVY will continue to publish WordPerfect Magazine and WordPerfect for Windows Magazine as well as other publications.

In addition, IVY will function as Novell’s preferred publishing partner for magazines related to its personal productivity line of software applications.

“This is a smart business move which will enable Novell to focus specifically on its core competencies as one of the world’s technology leaders,” said Marcus Kaufman, Novell’s director of corporate publications.

Craig Wooley, former Novell magazine division director and now president of IVY, agrees.

“We’ve enjoyed being a profitable part of Novell but are ready to re-emerge as a separate company and rekindle our entrepreneurial fires. Novell will remain a central part of what we do and what we produce, but from a different focus,” he said.

“IVY will now be a preferred publishing partner of Novell, and as such we will work independently through our publications practices by focusing instead on meeting users’ software needs,” he added.