Excelan to Be Acquired: Excelan Inc. said...

Excelan to Be Acquired: Excelan Inc. said it has agreed to be acquired by Novell Inc. in a stock swap that would create a giant computer networking firm. If the deal is approved by Excelan’s shareholders, the company would become a wholly owned subsidiary of Novell, which is based in Provo, Utah, and has a unit in Sunnyvale, Calif. The merger would create a company with about 2,000 employees and combined annual sales of $347 million. Novell sells software that allows users of IBM personal computers to share files across an electronic network. Excelan sells hardware and software that allows different kinds of computers to talk to each other. The merger is expected to be completed by July 1.