Novell Inc and CenterLine Software Inc, Cambridge, Massachusetts have been talking since at least the beginning of the year, possibly earlier, about a potentially strategic relationship. Often a relationship of that kind turns into a minority investment opportunity for Provo, Utah-based Novell. It is believed such an opportunity has been put on the table and the companies are thought to be sorting through their various options as far as synergy goes. CenterLine, with its C++ ObjectCenter and C-based CodeCenter development environments, is anxious to be associated with a systems software house that might offer CenterLine tool sets with its operating systems. In Novell’s case that could be both Unix and NetWare. Novell on the other hand must buttress its position for the long war with Microsoft Corp and later Taligent Inc. CenterLine might help it both in the short- and mid-term with application development.
