Hubert Mantel, one of the founders of the SUSE Linux project, has resigned from Novell Inc. SUSE Linux AG was acquired by Novell in January 2004. Mantel was one of four founders of SUSE, a German consulting group that focused on creating a packaged version of Linux. Earlier this month, Novell restructured its operations with a plan to focus on high-growth markets like Linux.

U.S. Awards Health Care Network Pacts

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has awarded contracts totaling US$18.6 million to four groups of health care and IT companies to develop prototypes for the Nationwide Health Information Network architecture. The groups, led by Accenture Ltd., IBM, Computer Sciences Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp., will develop an architecture and a prototype network for secure information sharing among health care organizations.

Dell Results Fall Short of Projections

Dell Inc. reported that third-quarter revenue and earnings came in short of the company's original expectations, as it had warned a week earlier.