A Common-Sense Approach
Novell and Microsoft are bridging differences to connect technologies for customers.
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| Ronald W. Hovsepian, President and CEO, Novell, Inc. |
The world’s businesses invest billions of dollars each year in information technologies. These computer systems enable companies to do remarkable things that simply weren’t possible a generation ago: sell products and services over the Internet, engage in instant communication and collaboration with partners and customers worldwide, and gain important insights that help make business operations more efficient and productive.
Yet, despite this amazing progress, getting various kinds of computer software and hardware to work well together can still be difficult. This is especially true as more companies take advantage of “mixed-source” technology environments that incorporate different operating systems — such as Windows and Linux — and other proprietary and open source software.
The good news is that an agreement signed last year between Novell and Microsoft holds the promise of making life easier for businesses wanting to share information across software and hardware systems from several IT companies. The agreement also gives customers the assurance that they will not be drawn into legal disputes over intellectual property in the software they deploy and use.
Novell and Microsoft will continue to compete based on the merits and value of our respective products. But through this agreement, we also are collaborating to make sure customers can realize the full benefits of both companies’ technologies — at lower cost and with fewer headaches.
The Novell-Microsoft agreement covers a broad range of technology, patents and joint sales and marketing efforts, and commits our companies to work together in three areas where we see exciting opportunities to combine our strengths and better serve customers:
| • | Virtualization software that enables multiple operating systems to run concurrently on a single computer; |
| • | Web services-based management technologies that make it easier for customers to manage their mixed IT environments; and |
| • | Document format compatibility software that makes it easier for customers to share documents between proprietary and open source office productivity applications. |
To further ensure the highest levels of interoperability, we also have agreed to provide each other’s customers with patent coverage for our leading products. Bridging the worlds of open source and proprietary software in this unique way respects the innovations of each company and the contributions of the open source community, and gives customers assurance of protection against patent infringement claims. This is good news for proprietary software users, for open source software users and especially for the many who use both.
Leading companies such as Wal-Mart Stores, HSBC, Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse have been among the first customers to tap the benefits of the Novell-Microsoft collaboration. Based in the greater Boston area, Novell is proud to be part of a local community of leadership firms in the technology sector. We feel good about our collaboration with Microsoft because our mutual customers around the globe are reaping the benefits.
