Summary: AttachMSFT's acquisition of Novell assets may mean a rocky future for ZENworks, which has just celebrated version 11

A couple of weeks ago Novell released an unusual number of products or announcements of products, almost as though it was rushing something. Now we know that it's possible Novell was just trying to empty its stack ahead of the storm [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. One important product announcement was ZENworks 11, which is a key product of Novell. The question is, will AttachMSFT [sic] keep it? Will it sell it? Will it bury it? We don't know yet and since nobody else knows for sure it works in Microsoft's favour. What a disaster.

Anyway, here is the press release about ZENworks 11 (also here) and a message from Novell's PR people who helped ensure this release got press coverage like:

1. Novell unveils next-gen Business Service Management Solution



2. Novell introduces ZENworks 11
3. Novell Introduces ZENworks 11, the Industry’s First Unified Endpoint Management Solution



4. Novell upgrades Zenworks PC management features
5. Novell unveils ZENworks 11 preview
6. ZENworks 11 And The Art of Unified Endpoint Management
7. Novell Previews ZENworks 11



8. Novell unveils business service management tool for IT Infrastructure
9. Zenworks 11 Update Consolidates Endpoint Governance



10. Novell Introduces ZENworks 11, the Industry's First Unified Endpoint Management Solution
11. Novell upgrades Zenworks PC management features
12. Novell Introduces ZENworks 11, the Industry's First Unified Endpoint Management Solution

There is also this new video about ZENworks and PR follow-ups. abend.org warns about security problems and Michael Vizard just helps boost it.

Grant Ho, director of solutions and product marketing for Novell, says solution providers will need systems management frameworks that allows them to cost effectively manage all the activities associated with PC management. For example, Zenworks 11, which is due out in January, adds support for power management and the ability to simultaneously support Windows and Linux platforms.

A newer article comes from CBR, but it does not yet say anything about AttachMSFT because it is not new enough.

If anyone has an opinion on what will happen to ZENworks, please share it with us in IRC or in the comments below (requires registration). ⬆