Novell Hires Hewlett-Packard Exec for Top Job : Computers: The software giant names Robert J. Frankenberg president. He is noted for strategic thinking.
Novell, the software giant that plans to merge with WordPerfect so that it can better challenge industry leader Microsoft, on Tuesday named a veteran Hewlett-Packard executive to succeed Chief Executive Raymond J. Noorda.
Robert J. Frankenberg, who becomes Novell’s president and chief executive, leaves Hewlett-Packard after 25 years, most recently as vice president and general manager of the personal information products group. He is credited with engineering a dramatic two-year turnaround of Hewlett-Packard’s laggard personal computer division.
Noorda, who will continue as Novell’s chairman, last year vowed to relinquish the day-to-day running of Novell by his 70th birthday this June. At that time, he disclosed that memory lapses were starting to interfere with his decisions.
Since Novell’s decision last month to buy WordPerfect and Borland International’s spreadsheet business in deals valued at more than $1.5 billion, concerns about who would assume the reins at this critical juncture have dogged the Provo, Utah-based company.
In addition to having to integrate the two big acquisitions, Frankenberg also faces stepped-up competition from Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft, which is trying to horn in on the fast-growing market for networking software. Novell has dominated that market for products to connect office computers since its introduction a decade ago.
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Asked how he intended to compete with Microsoft, viewed by many as an industry juggernaut intent on squelching all rivals, Frankenberg said in a telephone news conference: “A key element will be delivering solutions that Microsoft is not delivering. . . . It’s always good to go where your competitors aren’t or where they have difficulty following.”
Frankenberg, 46, has won plaudits from high-tech counterparts and investment analysts as a strategic thinker adept at stabilizing operations at Hewlett-Packard.
His appointment appeared to put to rest anxiety in the investment community. In anticipation of the announcement--which had been widely rumored but was not official until after the close of the stock market--Novell rose $1.50 per share to close at $18.375 in Nasdaq trading.
“This is a real coup for Novell,” said Robert Corpuz, an analyst with Dataquest, a San Jose market research firm.
A fan of science fiction, Italian cooking and deep-sea and fly fishing, Frankenberg has had a long relationship with Novell, serving for several years as a liaison on matters relating to networking products when he headed Hewlett-Packard’s network group.
Born in Chippewa Falls, Wis., Frankenberg received a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from San Jose State University. He joined HP in 1969 as a manufacturing technician in the former data systems division. He was promoted to various research and development, management and marketing positions in the 1970s and 1980s.
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Since 1991, Frankenberg has led the multibillion-dollar personal information products group. He moved quickly to slash costs and improve marketing, using steep price cuts to more than double sales of PC products in 1993 from levels the year before. Among other steps, he reduced support staff to nine people from 300. In 1993, the division’s expenses were less than in 1991, but business had more than doubled.
“Bob has a steady hand for managing growth businesses,” Noorda said.
Frankenberg will join Novell’s board of directors. With his arrival, Novell will dissolve its office of the president, members of which will continue their responsibilities and report to Frankenberg.
