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Novell CEO Stresses Interoperability, Data Centers for Suse Linux 11

While Novell recently reported down earnings due in large part to shortfalls in its Linux business, Matt Asay notes that the company remains very focused on Linux. He singles out CEO Ron Hovsepian's comments today at the Open Source Business Conference on Suse Linux 11 and data centers, Novell's efforts to make Suse Linux appropriate for netbooks, and more. The thing that really caught my eye is something I wrote about recently: Novell's focus on interoperability.

In results from IT executives in a recent survey from IDC and Novell, "67 percent of respondents stated that interoperability and manageability between Linux and Windows is one of the most important factors when choosing an operating system." The same survey showed that nearly half of respondents stated that moving to virtualization is accelerating their adoption of Linux.

"Even as Linux booms...Hovsepian highlighted IDC data suggesting that it won't fully blossom without interoperating with the existing Windows world," writes Asay. He also cites these comments from Novell's Justin Steinman, in response to questions about advantages Suse Linux may have over Red Hat Enterprise Linux:

"We've got preloads with a range of (original equipment manufacturers) for netbooks, notebooks, net tops, desktops, and more. Because Linux has such a small footprint, you can get the full functionality of Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop on a netbook: Windows can't do that, and Red Hat doesn't have that range of deployments, either."

Indeed, making its Linux competitive on hot hardware categories like netbooks, where Windows tends to dominate, is a promising path for Novell to go down. At the same time, the company needs to avoid any Ivory Tower stances toward Windows, and interoperate with it well. Windows is on over 90 percent of business desktops, so that just makes sense.

As we reported when we covered Novell's recent financial shortfall, the company has been too dependent on its relationship with Microsoft to generate deals for its Linux business. Through interoperability, virtualization, and presence on important emerging hardware categories, perhaps Novell can generate more of its own Linux deals, and new kinds of deals with new customers.  
 

• Windows
• linux
• Red Hat
• novell
• suse
• OSBC

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