Novell Unveils the Industry's First Workload Management Solutions that Span Linux and Windows Environments

Novell today announced new versions of three of its PlateSpin® Workload Management products - PlateSpin Migrate, PlateSpin Protect and PlateSpin Forge®. These new versions support both Linux* and Windows*, making them the first virtualization management solutions to offer live migrations of workloads from anywhere to anywhere - physical to virtual, virtual to physical, and physical to physical - regardless of operating system platform. In addition, PlateSpin Forge and PlateSpin Protect now offer the industry's only consolidated disaster recovery solution for both Windows and Linux, including SUSE® Linux Enterprise from Novell.

"Fast-changing virtual server environments demand superior workload management tools that can help IT decision makers plan appropriately, across the broadest range of platforms and operating systems," said Chris Hanson, network engineering manager at Kern Schools. "The PlateSpin Workload Management portfolio from Novell provides a more intelligent way to protect all Windows and Linux workloads for less, and has enabled us to reduce costs, complexity and risk, in order to transform our data center into a more agile, efficient and resilient IT environment."

As more and more customers research and adopt cloud technologies, these latest PlateSpin Workload Management products reinforce and extend Novell's vision of a simple path to the cloud without replacing existing technology investments. Virtualized, protected workloads are a prerequisite to the cloud, and PlateSpin Migrate, PlateSpin Protect and PlateSpin Forge support the company's Intelligent Workload Management strategy to deliver solutions that significantly reduce the risks and challenges of computing across physical, virtual and cloud environments.

Protecting Windows and Linux workloads intelligently
Novell has added key functionality which extends the critcal role that PlateSpin Migrate, PlateSpin Protect and PlateSpin Forge plays in the day-to-day operation of the data center, including:

• PlateSpin Migrate 9 - Extending its leadership as the industry's most trusted server migration tool, PlateSpin Migrate decouples server workloads from their underlying hardware and enables anywhere-to-anywhere migration over the network between physical servers, virtual hosts and image archives. New to PlateSpin Migrate, Linux Live Transfer and Linux Live "Server Sync" reduce downtime and risk when migrating business critical Linux workloads. Additionally, as organizations move more critical server workloads into a virtual infrastructure, PlateSpin Migrate now supports the movement of Windows Clusters between physical and virtual infrastructures.
• PlateSpin Protect 10 - Designed for flexible workload protection, PlateSpin Protect replicates and rapidly recovers whole server workloads including data, applications and operating systems - all from a single point of control. It provides a simple, flexible and cost-effective solution for protecting physical and virtual workloads in the data center. New features in PlateSpin Protect allow customers to leverage existing virtual infrastructure to create one disaster recovery plan for all server workloads, whether physical or virtual, running both Windows and Linux. A redesigned web user interface allows for simple remote access to set up, test and execute disaster recovery plans, and offers a new level of visibility into the recovery process with reports and alerts to facilitate compliance reporting and enhanced lights out management.
• PlateSpin Forge 3 - Developed as the industry's first all-in-one, plug in and protect, out of the box hardware appliance that protects both physical and virtual servers using embedded virtualization technology, the latest release of PlateSpin Forge now protects a wider array of workloads by offering flexible consolidated disaster recovery for all x86 physical and virtual workloads running Windows and Linux. Additional new features include increased memory and storage capacity for improved performance, new smart replication technology, Forge API and Windows cluster protection for business critical workloads.

"Being able to migrate and protect at the server workload level is a critical step towards the promise of Intelligent Workload Management," said Jim Ebzery, senior vice president and general manager for Security, Management and Operating Platforms at Novell. "With major upgrades to the PlateSpin Workload Management portfolio, Novell is breaking down the walls between platform silos and enabling customers to implement smart solutions for either their migration or disaster recovery needs, no matter what platform or operating system they choose to use. These new PlateSpin products allow organizations to move and protect entire server workloads with ease and flexibility, and help organizations achieve new operational efficiencies and cost savings in the data center - key enablers for operational and business success."

Availability
PlateSpin Migrate 9, PlateSpin Protect 10 and PlateSpin Forge 3 will be generally available this month. For more information including product specifications, pricing and packaging options, contact a Novell® reseller or visit www.novell.com/solutions/virtualization-workload/.

About PlateSpin Workload Management
The PlateSpin Workload Management portfolio of solutions from Novell include PlateSpin Recon, PlateSpin Migrate, PlateSpin Orchestrate, PlateSpin Protect and PlateSpin Forge. Leveraging Novell's strengths in interoperability, PlateSpin Workload Management solutions enable customers to profile, migrate, protect and manage server workloads across physical, virtual and cloud infrastructures in heterogeneous IT environments. PlateSpin Virtualization and Workload Management solutions are the only virtualization management products on the market today to support 32-and 64-bit Windows and Linux servers, as well as all leading hypervisors including Citrix* XenServer*, Microsoft* Hyper-V*, VMware* ESX and ESXi and Xen* integrated in SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.