National Vision Chooses SUSE Linux Enterprise from Novell to Ensure Business Growth and Meet Customer Needs

Novell today announced that National Vision Inc., one of the largest optical retailers in the United States, plans to use SUSE® Linux Enterprise Point of Service to improve the performance, stability and uptime of the network of 5,000 point-of-sale devices within its stores. With more than 500 retail locations in 44 states, including America’s Best Contacts & Eyeglasses and Vision Centers at select Wal-Mart stores, SUSE Linux Enterprise Point of Service will provide National Vision with an agile, reliable and cost-effective operating system.

With plans to continue to add at least 40 new stores per year through the current down economy, National Vision’s biggest IT challenge is keeping in-store systems updated and running seamlessly in order to meet and exceed the needs of its business. After experiencing performance issues with its existing UNIX-based point of service (POS) operating system, the national optical retailer opted to switch to SUSE Linux Enterprise for its mission-critical computing. With a more flexible and reliable Linux-based platform, National Vision can better serve the changing needs of its business while providing customers with faster and better service.

SUSE Linux Enterprise Point of Service is an open and flexible POS solution that enables retailers to slash costs while enhancing customer relationships and increasing system reliability. National Vision plans to add dozens of stores each year, and SUSE Linux Enterprise Point of Service will help the company keep pace with business growth, without requiring additional IT headcount. Novell’s Linux-based retail solution also reduces both the time and complexity of opening a new store, which in turn will further reduce National Vision’s costs.

"By moving from UNIX to Linux, we anticipate a huge increase in system performance, stability and uptime – all of which are critical to any retail organization," said John Vaught, Chief Information Officer, National Vision. "We considered other POS options, but selected SUSE Linux Enterprise Point of Service because it has all the components to manage our servers and clients at both our central location and at each of our retail locations across the country. We also felt that Novell understood the retail market and our business. They provided a terrific engineering and support team, and put us in touch with several other retail companies that are running their businesses on SUSE Linux Enterprise."

"The effective use of IT solutions can mean the difference between ‘sink or swim’ for retailers, especially during challenging economic times," said Justin Steinman, Vice President of Solution and Product Marketing at Novell. "SUSE Linux Enterprise Point of Service helps retailers respond quickly to changing market conditions, improve customer service and achieve an efficient and reliable infrastructure. Moving to Linux will enable National Vision to keep their costs low so they can pass those savings on to their customers."

About SUSE Linux Enterprise
The next-generation platform for the open enterprise, SUSE Linux Enterprise is the best-engineered and most interoperable platform for mission-critical computing, from the desktop to the data center. For more information on SUSE Linux Enterprise offerings from Novell, visit www.novell.com/linux. For more on how customers around the globe are leveraging Novell solutions, visit www.novell.com/success.