Statements about Ray Noorda

Michael S. Dell, Chairman of the Board of Dell, Inc., and Kevin B. Rollins, President and Chief Executive Officer

“Ray Noorda has made an impact on our industry that will last for many years. 

He helped turn Novell into a major player in the network operating system market during his tenure.  He was known for letting anyone make a mistake once, as long as they got it right the next time. He helped drive the extension of the PC by building a successful file sharing system for the newly introduced PC that is now the defacto standard in Local Area Networks. He created the term coopetition.

And, he created many friends, including us, who will have fond memories of his contribution, his leadership in our industry and his drive to succeed.”

Drew Major, co-founder, Novell Inc.

“In late 1982 Ray Noorda came by to see what my SuperSet partners and I had built for Novell Data Systems.  He saw the value in enabling PCs to share files and printers using local area networks.  He also realized that the failing company we were working for needed his business and marketing skills.  It gave him a vehicle to start something great in Utah so that the best and brightest technologists wouldn’t have to move out of state to find suitable employment (which as a young man he had to do).

So, much to the chagrin of his associates in Silicon Valley, Ray left California and moved to Utah, joining us in a truck garage in Utah Valley.  No one would fund us so he put up his own money, was overly generous to the backers of Novell Data Systems, reorganized the company as Novell, Inc. with himself as Chairman and CEO, and had an office by the front door where he also worked as receptionist and janitor.

The first years were tough, given that Novell had to survive purely on sales revenue.  So Ray balanced expenses against sales, focused on customers first, employees second, and shareholders third.  He figured out how to sell local area networks to small and large businesses.  In order to do that, he built a distribution channel that became the envy of the industry.

Just as things started to pick up Novell was forced to go public by the original investors (without getting money from the IPO).  No matter; Ray just kept growing the company on cash flow until revenue finally exploded in the late 1980s.  Those who cashed out early missed Novell’s stock rising to over 300 times its original price.

Ray was one of the first to realize that networking computers inherently implied openness--all computers connected and working together.  Customers would expect competing companies to make their products work together on the network, so Ray coined the term “coopetition” to express the new reality.  That early insight is now accepted as the norm, as witnessed by the Internet, but in the beginning it wasn’t as clear and certainly was not followed by the major industry players.

Ray once told me that there were two more things he would like to do in life: first, to be pregnant and have a baby, and second, to get close to bankruptcy.  I asked him why.  He said that creating a new life had to be the greatest experience of life and was disappointed that he could never experience it.  Concerning bankruptcy, he thrived being close to it because he felt it focused one’s mind and made things easier to prioritize.  He was always the quintessential turn-around-a-failing-company man.  Sometimes I’ve wondered whether that explained the challenges Ray and Novell faced after Novell became wildly successful and far away from bankruptcy—was it harder to focus?

Ray was a great mentor to all of his employees and gave us all opportunities to grow.  With his integrity he built a trust and a bond in the early Novell years that empowered us together to go out and change the world.  Not only was he respected and appreciated by those who partnered with him but also by those who competed against him.  Ray Noorda left a legacy of connecting computers, and people, and companies together.”

Larry Sonsini, Chairman, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and former member of the Board of Directors, Novell, Inc.

“Ray Noorda was a man of vision and one of the early leaders of the software industry. In all of my experiences with him, he was a man of integrity and a gentleman.”

Utah Governor Jon M. Huntsman, Jr.

"Ray was one of the innovators of the Utah Miracle. He launched what would become Utah's technology sector. He has left behind a monumental legacy and we are all in his debt.  He will be deeply missed."

PC Magazine editor-in-chief Michael Miller

At an awards ceremony recognizing Noorda’s contributions to the industry, PC Magazine editor-in-chief Michael Miller said, “When Ray Noorda joined Novell, he realized that he could not rely on the old way of doing business: straight out 'theirs or mine' competition. He understood that in the PC marketplace, manufacturers needed to be cooperative, and that the key to success was ensuring that products worked together. Networking is so important and so strong today because PC users can share information on disparate computers, thanks in large part to Noorda.”
“Michael Dell and Ray Noorda received special awards; business innovators honored at PC MAGAZINE's awards for technical excellence” Business Wire, November 17, 1992