Microsoft and Novell Team for Virtualization Solution

Microsoft and Novell announced the availability of a joint virtualization solution optimized for customers running mixed-source environments.

The joint offering includes SUSE Linux Enterprise Server from Novell configured and tested as an optimized guest operating system running on Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, and is fully supported by both companies' channel partners, including Dell, which will test and validate this offering at the Microsoft and Novell joint Interoperability Lab in Cambridge, Mass. The companies stated that the offering provides customers with the first complete, fully supported and optimized virtualization solution to span Windows and Linux environments.

The new offering represents progress in the Microsoft-Novell collaboration and business model first announced in November 2006, which delivers seamless integration of SUSE Linux Enterprise and Microsoft Windows, providing a bridge between proprietary software and open source software. The virtualization solution includes technology developed by both companies at their joint Interoperability Lab, including virtual machine adapters built to optimize SUSE Linux Enterprise Server as an optimized, or often referred to as enlightened, guest operating system on Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, providing optimized performance to SUSE Linux guests.

"The collaboration between Microsoft and Novell has been built by our desire to meet our customers' and partners' IT needs, and to deliver solutions that support customers' mixed-source environments," said Bob Kelly, corporate vice president of infrastructure server marketing within the Server and Tools Business at Microsoft. "For customers standardizing on Microsoft's hypervisor who also have a mixed-source IT environment, this virtualization solution gives that choice. For channel partners who need a cross-platform hypervisor offering, our work with Novell gives them an easy starting point."

"Virtualization radically simplifies IT, providing greater flexibility and helping our customers focus their resources on innovation instead of maintenance," said Rick Becker, vice president of Software and Solutions, Dell Product Group. "By supporting this new solution from Microsoft and Novell, we can provide our customers running mixed Linux and Windows environments with an optimized solution that is quick and simple to deploy."

"We're very pleased to be offering this new virtualization solution with Microsoft and our channel partners, which demonstrates the success of our ongoing technical and business relationship and the unique, high-value solutions we can deliver for our customers," said Roger Levy, general manager and senior vice president, Open Platform Solutions, Novell. "Together, we offer our customers dramatic cost savings and greatly enhance overall business agility, allowing them to leverage SUSE Linux Enterprise Server as the best virtualized guest for those who are using Hyper-V. Novell has worked closely with Microsoft on virtualization solutions, and was a charter member of its Server Virtualization Validation Program, with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server a fully supported and validated operating system on Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V."

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