Novell Hardens Linux for the Enterprise

Novell today announced that it will deliver a comprehensive range of Linux offerings for the enterprise to harden Linux for mission-critical operations. Novell is the only Linux supplier to deliver Linux for all enterprise needs, from desktops and workgroups to data center and high-performance computing. The new initiatives include data center Linux; attainment of a new security certification, CAPP/EAL4+; and the upcoming availability of Open Enterprise Server, a dual-kernel Linux and NetWare® enterprise platform with integrated enterprise-strength networking services well beyond those available in any commercially available Linux distribution. Novell also announced the formation of Hula, a new open source collaboration project to expand alternatives to Internet e-mail and scheduling. Novell will contribute NetMail® to the open source community as part of this initiative.

“Linux has been very successful at the edge of the network for Web servers, application servers and firewalls and is showing significant traction as a workgroup server, delivering file, print, messaging and other workgroup services,” said Jack Messman, chairman and CEO of Novell. “The next challenge is to make it even more robust for mission-critical data center tasks and high-performance computing, where complex and massive transactional processing is required. Only Novell has the technology, partnerships and services to help customers meet these challenges.”

Enterprises need platform infrastructure in four key areas:

• The desktop, driving employee productivity with tools like word processing and Web browsers.
• The workgroup, allowing e-mail, filing, printing and the other tasks of daily employee collaborative interaction.
• The data center, at the technological heart of the enterprise, where organizations run line of business applications for supply chains, enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management.
• Finally, high performance computing, driving heavy duty transactional and processing activities, critical in areas like financial services, scientific work and graphics creation.

Novell, in conjunction with partners, is delivering in all four areas.

Novell today announced (see separate announcements for details):

• A Data Center initiative: Data centers require security, availability, scalability, reliability and manageability, areas where Novell has been technically strong for years. Novell's data center initiative includes the delivery of new capabilities around application infrastructure, high availability and clustered storage, virtualization, systems management, and security. Recently announced cooperation with leading high-availability vendors Unisys, PolyServe and SGI will play an important role in this initiative.
• Open Enterprise Server: In the workgroup space, Novell's Open Enterprise Server delivers a secure, highly available suite of services that combines NetWare and SUSE® LINUX to deliver proven file, print, management, collaboration and application services in an open environment.
• EAL4 Security Certification: Security remains at the top of the list of executive concerns for IT projects and is critical for the success of Linux in the data center. The achievement of EAL4+ by SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 reflects Novell's continuing commitment to, and leadership in, IT security.
• The Hula Project: Reflecting Novell's ongoing commitment to making significant contributions to the open source community, the Hula project is a communication and collaboration project that provides a platform to foster innovation around the ways people find, share and coordinate information on the Internet. The Hula project is based on Novell® NetMail, whose core components Novell will open source.

“Open source is here to stay because it delivers real value,” Messman added. “The recent success of Firefox, a quality open source browser that has gained significant market share, proves that open source is a catalyst for innovation. The Hula project, with our significant code contribution, will help drive similar innovation in the collaboration arena, ultimately providing customers new options for secure, efficient collaboration leveraging the Web.”

In addition to its announcements at LinuxWorld, Novell is also sponsoring a Partner Pavilion on the show floor. Over 30 Novell partners, including Dell, IBM, Oracle and HP, as well as virtualization, storage, security vendors and more, are showing their applications or equipment running SUSE Linux from Novell.

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