Frankenberg Steps Down As Novell Ceo

Robert J. Frankenberg resigned Thursday as chairman, chief executive and president of Novell Inc., ending a turbulent 2-1/2 years in which he failed to capitalize on the billion-dollar spending spree of his predecessor.

Frankenberg inherited the task of integrating several other companies, most notably WordPerfect Corp., into Novell that founder Raymond Noorda bought with the idea they would position the company to more ably compete with Microsoft Corp.

At the same time, the company’s core business in networking software was newly challenged by the growing popularity of the Internet.

Early this year, Novell sold WordPerfect and some other assets at a fraction of their cost and returned to its roots in networking products. Novell is now adapting its main NetWare product to work efficiently with Internet- and intranet-related software.

John A. Young, former chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard Co. and a Novell director, will become chairman of the Orem, Utah-based company. Joseph A. Marengi, Novell’s top marketer, will become its president.

A search is under way for a new chief executive officer.