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Novell Expands Premium Service with Strong Account Growth, High Renewal Rate Strong Service Relationships, Continued Growth Indicate Customers' Commitment to Novell Products As Key Components in Enterprise Network Environments OREM, Utah -- September 16, 1996 -- Large enterprise customers continue to look to Novell for vital components of their information systems environments and find value in a direct technical support relationship with Novell. Premium Service contracts are growing at a rate of approximately 60 percent per year and existing customers are renewing Premium Service contracts with Novell Technical Services at a rate of 93 percent, confirming the continued strength of Novell products as networking and intranet solutions and the value large enterprise customers place on a direct support relationship with Novell. The high renewal rate, combined with increased growth in new contracts, has brought the current number of Novell Premium Service contracts to more than 1,000. This compares to 634 contracts in September 1995. The high renewal rate shows enterprise customers continue to rely on Novell for critical network capabilities. Among the seven percent of Premium Service customers that did not renew contracts, the reason most often cited for not continuing with Premium Service was a lack of use due to highly trained internal IS staffs. Only one account that did not renew indicated a change to competitor products as the reason for dropping the Novell contract. "The combination of Novell's quality products and support expertise has established a renewed commitment by many enterprises to keep NetWare, GroupWise and other Novell products as central components of their overall IS infrastructure," said Rich Nortz, senior vice president, Novell Technical Services. "The direct relationship large enterprise customers get with Premium Service is a tremendous value because it strengthens the ability of their internal IS staffs to develop and manage mission-critical Novell environments, ranging from basic networking to corporate intranets." Nortz adds that while the majority of Premium Service accounts are large enterprises, an increasing number of customers asking for direct access to Novell's support professionals are requesting Premium 100, which targets smaller enterprise customers with occasional, third-level support needs. Nortz said this growth is a further indication of the market strength of Novell's core products. "I consider Novell's Premium support engineers as an essential part of my own IS team," said Jon Arnold, director of Information Services, Edison Electric Institute. "We have been through successful upgrades and migrations that would have been difficult for my staff to complete without Premium Service from Novell." "Novell's Premium Service offers enterprise customers the flexibility to select the right service options to meet their needs," said Tom Sweeny, Director and Principal Analyst, Dataquest Software Services. "This flexibility has provided the foundation to create meaningful and effective relationships between customers' IS organizations and Novell's technical staff." Premium Service, which was originally offered to Novell customers in 1992, is available in three levels -- Premium 100, 200 and 300 -- with additional features available as add-ons to customize the support relationship with Novell. In July 1996, Novell announced the availability of Premium Service worldwide as part of the introduction of the Novell Support Connection. The Novell Support Connection provides access to Novell's networking support expertise through qualified partners, directly through Premium Service and electronically through advanced tools, such as the Novell Support Connection Web site (http://support.novell.com). Founded in 1983, Novell (NASDAQ: NOVL) is the world's leading provider of network software. The company offers a wide range of network solutions for distributed network, Internet, intranet and small-business markets. Novell education and technical support programs are the most comprehensive in the network computing industry. Information about Novell's complete range of products and services can be accessed on the World Wide Web at http://www.novell.com.
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