NETWORKING specialists Novell took further strides on Microsoft's traditional strongholds last week, with the acquisition of the WordPerfect Corporation and the spreadsheet business of Borland.
The acquisitions - which have yet to be ratified by the United States Stock Exchange authorities - make Novell the third largest software house in the world behind Microsoft and Computer Associates.
The acquisitions also create a formidable competitor to the industry-dominant Microsoft, with Novell able to compete, not only on grounds of operating systems and networking software, but also in the applications market.
The agreements would see WordPerfect acquired for the US$1.4 billion (about HK$11 billion) in stock, and Borland's Quattro Pro spreadsheet acquired for $145 million.
It is not immediately obvious what impact the merger will have in the Asia-Pacific region, although some redundancies are expected.
Novell's Sydney-based Asia-Pacific vice-president Arthur Ehrlich said the firm was still looking at the combined regional infrastructure of the firms, but said he expected redundancies to be minimal.
A clearer picture on how the companies would be integrated in the Asia-Pacific would emerge over the next week, Mr Ehrlich said.