- Agreement enables IBM to ship SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server across its
servers
- Novell will develop and support SUSE LINUX on IBM platforms
Salt Lake City (BrainShare® 2004) - March 24, 2004 - Novell today announced an agreement with IBM enabling IBM to ship SUSE® LINUX Enterprise Server, which customers license from Novell, with IBM's servers. This agreement will provide Novell an exciting new channel to supply SUSE LINUX to businesses around the world.
As part of today's agreement, IBM can ship, or preload, SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server across its entire server line, including IBM eServer iSeries, pSeries, xSeries, and zSeries, as well as IBM's eServer BladeCenter systems.* The parties have extended IBM's existing agreement with SUSE LINUX, and Novell will continue to develop and support SUSE LINUX on all IBM server platforms.
"The momentum behind Linux in the marketplace continues to grow," said Jack Messman, chairman and CEO of Novell. "Novell is working with companies like IBM to deliver the powerful, fully supported SUSE LINUX platform on leading enterprise servers. Customers know that they're getting top-quality performance backed by the global technical support and services they need from Novell. This marks a critical step in making Linux mainstream in the corporate data center."
Today's announcement is expected to increase choices for customers deploying Linux. By enabling IBM to ship SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server on its servers, it can help make buying, deploying and managing Linux easier and more cost effective for customers. With the power of SUSE LINUX's configuration and installation management tools, customers can deploy SUSE LINUX on IBM into mixed networking environments more easily, gaining the cost and flexibility benefits of Linux without sacrificing the enterprise strength capabilities they need.
"This is an important milestone and we are extremely pleased with our growing business relationship with Novell, one of the premier providers of Linux in the world," said Jim Stallings, general manager of corporate Linux for IBM. "Offering customers more choice is important. Linux delivers a compelling value proposition that enables many businesses worldwide to deploy large-scale engagements that benefit from the advantages of Linux, including lower costs, greater stability and increased security."
About Novell
Novell, Inc. (Nasdaq: NOVL) is a leading provider of information solutions that deliver secure identity management (Novell® Nsure), Web application development (Novell exteNd) and cross-platform networking services (Novell Nterprise), all supported by strategic consulting and professional services (Novell NgageSM). Active in the open source community with its Ximian® and SUSE LINUX brands, Novell provides a full range of Linux products and services for the enterprise, from the desktop to the server. Novell's vision of one Net - a world without information boundaries - helps customers realize the value of their information securely and economically.
For more information
Winette Boomsma/Suzanne van de Raadt
Tel.: 020 346 20 00
E-mail: wboomsma@nl.brodeur.com / svanderaadt@nl.brodeur.com