The move was revealed in the company’s latest filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission but should not cause too much disruption as many of the networking software and Linux company’s executives are already based in the new headquarters at Waltham, Massachusetts.

Novell acquired the facility along with Cambridge Technology Partners Inc in 2001, an acquisition that also saw Jack Messman, president and CEO of CTP, become CEO of Novell. Since then most of Novell’s executive dealings, including board meetings, have been done from the Massachusetts building.

Novell looks set to retain its product development facility in Provo, Utah, which was previously the company’s headquarters. The company’s other major facilities are in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Ireland; Germany; and India.

While largely a formality, the move east puts some geographical and symbolic distance between Novell and the company it is in dispute with for the ownership of Unix copyrights: SCO Group Inc, which is based in Lindon, Utah.

The move also distances the company from its previous incarnation under the leadership of founder Ray Noorda, whose Utah-based Canopy Group investment firm is a major SCO shareholder.

Meanwhile, Ximian, the desktop Linux specialist recently acquired by Novell, is also based in Massachusetts. Along with Novell’s other new asset Nuremberg, Germany-based SuSE, Ximian is key to Novell’s future product development plans.

This article is based on material originally published by ComputerWire