Editing Canopy Group (section)

=== Early years ===
Noorda retired from Novell in 1994.<ref name="slt-1997"/>  In 1995, The Canopy Group was founded as a venture capital firm.<ref name="NW_FR_2001"/><ref name="crn_mergers_1997"/>  (Some sources place the founding of the Canopy Group as having happened in 1992,<ref name="DN_FR_2005"/> but this may be a reference to the predecessor origins.)  Venture capitalists were relatively uncommon at the time in Utah,<ref name="Mims_2005"/> for reasons both geographic and cultural.<ref name="slt_vc_1998"/>  

Some of Noorda's investments were in technologies or strategies that he thought Novell should be involved in but was not,<ref name="NW_FR_2001"/> or were in companies whose products supported Novell's products or vice versa.<ref name="slt-1997"/>  These companies included Coresoft Technologies, KeyLabs Inc., Vinca Corp., and Helius Inc.<ref name="slt-1997"/>  Another early Canopy Group investment was [[Nombas]],<ref name="PR_Nombas_1996"/> which unlike the others was located in the eastern portion of the country.<ref name="slt-1997"/>  In addition the ups and downs of Novell's fortunes led to executives or projects departing it and new companies being formed, some of which Canopy funded.<ref name="crn_mergers_1997"/>

Subsequently the Canopy Group shifted its Novell-specific focus to one that was more geared towards [[open source software]] and [[network infrastructure]] projects in general.<ref name="NW_FR_2001"/>  Noorda had an early interest in the potential of [[Linux]] and Canopy financed [[Caldera, Inc.]] starting in 1995. <ref name="ZDN_settlement_2005"/>  He subsequently financed several other Linux-related companies as well,<ref name="NYT_Lineo_2003"/> such as [[Lineo]] and [[Linux Networx]].<ref name="NW_FR_2001"/>  Noorda and Canopy would still maintain an interest in some Novell affairs, however: in March 1998 the group's webpage indicated that the Novell Family Trust's 7.37 percent of Novell shares would be voted to withhold approval from most of the Novell board of directors running for re-election.<ref name="SLT_board_1998"/>

In June 1995, Noorda announced the creation of Canopy Technologies, which would provide marketing, distribution, and management services to small software companies.<ref name="ap-1995"/><ref name="dh-1995-e"/><ref name="dh-1995"/>  An early client of Canopy Technologies was Caldera, Inc.<ref name="ap-1995"/>  Canopy Technologies, which was based in Orem, Utah, would use an outsourcing model and take advantage of Noorda's network of firms and know-how.<ref name="dh-1995"/>  In 1996, Canopy Technologies, in league with [[Bain Capital]], placed a bid to buy the [[WordPerfect]] division from Novell<ref name="dh_wp_2005"/> (the head of Canopy Technologies was Craig Bradley, a former WordPerfect executive).<ref name="dh-1995-e"/>  However, [[Corel Corporation]]'s bid was accepted instead.<ref name="PR_Corel_1996"/>

In 1996, [[Ralph J. Yarro III]] was named as the general manager of The Canopy Group.<ref name="DN_FR_2005"/><ref name="crn_mergers_1997"/>  By 1998, the Canopy Group was invested in 24 different companies which in turn employed a total of around 1,000 people.<ref name="slt_vc_1998"/>  Noorda became Utah's most prominent venture capitalist.<ref name="WSJ_FR_2005"/>  However unlike many venture capital firms, the Canopy Group under Noorda was not focused on reaching an [[exit strategy]] for its investments; instead, Yarro, said, Noorda "does it because he enjoys it, and he has the ability, both intellectually and financially, to pull it off."<ref name="slt_vc_1998"/>  By the early 2000s, the Canopy Group had invested in dozens of companies,<ref name="DN_FR_2005"/> with 35 firms on its active roll as of 2003.<ref name="fortune-2003"/>

Besides investments and management activities, the Canopy Group was also active in provided buildings for technology companies to host their offices in.<ref name="e_c5_2006"/>  Their campus for these buildings was in [[Lindon, Utah]].<ref name="e_c5_2006"/>  While some of the tenants of these buildings were companies Canopy had invested in, including the data center provider [[ViaWest]], over half of the tenants were not related to Canopy.<ref name="e_c5_2006"/>