Business and Technical Collaboration Results in Strong Customer Demand and Commercial Success

Microsoft Corp. and Novell, Inc. recently marked the two-year anniversary of their agreement to jointly build, market and support new solutions to improve interoperability and make Microsoft and Novell products work better together.

Now in the second year of their collaboration to build a bridge between Windows and SUSE® Linux Enterprise Server, the companies are experiencing continued strong momentum behind the agreement, adding approximately 200 new customers in the second year – including Alticor Inc., BP Oil International Ltd. and China Mobile Ltd. – to the growing list of businesses that are successfully using Windows-Linux interoperability solutions.

“Alticor is pleased to announce that it has acquired certain Novell services from Microsoft via their interoperability and IP agreement. This multiyear agreement will enhance our ability to provide IT services to our companies at an affordable price while providing the support needed to take our business to a higher operating level,” said Jim Mesack, manager of IT Technical Support at Alticor.

Microsoft-Novell Model Expands Customer Resources and Windows-Linux Solutions

Since signing their original intellectual property, business, and technical agreement in November 2006, Microsoft and Novell continue to make significant investments in their partnership, including increased support of subscription certificates for customers moving to enterprise-class Linux and the unveiling of new technical offerings.

The companies recently announced the general availability release of the Advanced Management Pack for SUSE Linux Enterprise for Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2 designed to streamline costs, resources, and complexities for teams running mixed IT environments. Also announced is the upcoming beta availability of Moonlight, an open source implementation of Microsoft Silverlight that provides Linux-based users with the ability to consume Silverlight media, which can be done today through the Microsoft and Apple environments.

In August 2008, the companies delivered a joint virtualization solution optimized for customers running mixed-source environments. The offering allows customers to save costs and enhance business agility by leveraging SUSE Linux Enterprise Server as a fully supported and validated operating system on Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V.

Microsoft and Novell’s Customer-Centered Future

Combined engineering teams in development labs are currently designing and testing new software solutions to continue developing real-world pragmatic solutions for customers. Some of the biggest names in business that include the financial, healthcare, retail and technology sectors are benefitting from these technologies. They’re working more efficiently in the areas of virtualization, standards-based management, directory and identity federation, and document format compatibility.

“The cooperation between Microsoft and Novell to deliver expanded support for SUSE Linux Enterprise users is a breath of fresh air. The ability to transition from other Linux deployments, including Red Hat, while redeeming subscription certificates purchased from Microsoft for Novell’s Expanded Support, is remarkable — something you can’t get anywhere else. This is exactly what our customers have told us they are looking for to help make the transition from other forms of Linux to Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server,” said Joe Szalkiewicz, Western Region Vice President at The Pinnacle Group.

Microsoft and Novell’s recent announcement of their enhanced relationship affirms their expanded support for providing technology solutions and customer benefits. By opening doors to more cross-platform collaboration between software companies and developers, customers will continue to realize unprecedented choice and flexibility, reduced costs, and streamlined operations – all with complete peace of mind around IP licensing and integration.

Learn more about the Microsoft and Novell agreement at moreinterop.com.