12 September 2001 - London, UK

At today's UK Premiere of Novell® NetWare® 6, Virgin Trains*, the UK's rail operator for CrossCountry Trains and West Coast Trains, announced the implementation of the latest version of Novell's network operating system as the Net services platform to enhance Virgin Trains' ability to deliver world-class train services by 2003. Virgin Trains is leading the UK in upgrading to NetWare 6, with Cap Gemini Ernst & Young* providing the systems integration expertise to manage the rollout across the company's IBM eServer xSeries* servers.

Virgin Trains is driving an ambitious programme to deliver a revolution in rail travel by 2003 and is working with partners Novell, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young and IBM to provide world-class IT services to support its business. Jeremy Acklam, Virgin Trains' Head of IT, has key responsibilities for delivering 24x7 IT services for Virgin Trains and the nationwide implementation of major IT projects for the UK rail network.

"NetWare 6 allows Virgin Trains to keep up with growth by being very flexible," explained Jeremy Acklam, "we can add new sites and new systems to the network and adapt rapidly to change."

When Virgin Trains took over the two rail franchises, it faced the challenge of substantially improving systems that had suffered through lack of investment. Acklam added, "We needed to select the appropriate partners to build a robust IT infrastructure to meet our objectives and Cap Gemini Ernst & Young provided the right skills. Reliability is essential to Virgin Trains and NetWare 6 is essential in delivering reliable IT services to the business to keep our train services on schedule and minutes lost to a minimum. The flexibility and reliability of Novell's one Net vision allows us to deliver the solutions necessary for Virgin Trains to provide world-class train services to our customers in 2003."

Mark Smith, Consultant for Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, is part of a team that manages the outsourced IT services delivery for Virgin Trains. He explained their role, saying: "Virgin Trains' IT services have operated on Novell software and IBM hardware for many years and the proven reliability of this combination gave us the confidence to develop the network and bring it to world-class standards. We're looking forward to delivering Novell's one Net solutions based on the latest technologies such as iFolder and Novell Storage Services on the NetWare 6 platform to accelerate Virgin Trains' eBusiness transformation."

Virgin Trains employ 3,800 staff at over 80 locations across the country. The Virgin Trains network carries 30 million passengers each year and will expand to serve up to 60 million passengers a year after 2003. CrossCountry Trains is the only national rail network in the UK and West Coast trains serves passengers between London and Glasgow and the North West of England.

Brian Green, Novell EMEA Product Manager, added: "Virgin Trains is one of the most innovative companies in the rail industry and their early adoption of NetWare 6 shows their commitment to a one Net strategy. The company operates diverse systems using a variety of operating systems and Novell and NetWare 6 provide the core infrastructure that guarantees always available, reliable and secure access to all data, applications and services for all users."

About Novell

Novell, Inc. (NASDAQ: NOVL), is a leader in eBusiness solutions and Net services software designed to secure and power the networked world. Novell and its subsidiary, Cambridge Technology Partners, help organisations solve complex business challenges, simplify their systems and processes, and capture new opportunities with one Net solutions. Novell provides worldwide channel, consulting, education and developer programmes to support its offerings.

For information on Novell's complete range of products and services, contact Novell's Telephone Response Centre at 01344 724100, or visit Novell's Web site at http://www.novell.com/uk/. Information on eBusiness and e-integration solutions from Cambridge Technology Partners can be accessed at http://www.ctp.com.

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Novell, NetWare, GroupWise, Novell Directory Services and NDS are registered trademarks and BorderManager, eDirectory, ManageWise and ZENworks are trademarks of Novell, Inc. in the USA and other countries. *All third party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

JoAnne Hughes
Novell UK
01344 724312
jahughes@novell.com