Microsoft and Novell Open Interoperability Lab

Microsoft Corp. and Novell Inc. today announced the opening of the Microsoft and Novell® Interoperability Lab in Cambridge, Mass. Announced last fall as part of Microsoft and Novell’s groundbreaking collaboration agreement, the opening of the lab delivers on a promise the two companies made to work together to create a joint development facility at which Microsoft and Novell technical experts will design and test new software solutions and work with customers and the community to build and support technologies that allow Microsoft® Windows Server® and SUSE® Linux Enterprise to work well together.

“The Microsoft and Novell Interoperability Lab is officially open for business,” said Tom Hanrahan, director of Linux interoperability at Microsoft. “We are pleased to be working with Novell on this joint interoperability effort and are eager to roll up our sleeves and continue the challenging technical work required to make Windows Server and SUSE Linux Enterprise interoperability a reality for our customers.”

“Today’s lab opening is another indicator of the high priority that Novell and Microsoft are giving this collaboration,” said Suzanne Forsberg, Interoperability Lab manager for Novell. “This kind of technical interoperability work requires disciplined effort and dedicated resources, and that’s what this lab is built around. Enterprise customers are demanding exactly the kinds of interoperable solutions that will be the focus of this lab’s work and output.”

Located in Cambridge, the 2,500-square-foot lab and workspace will be home to a combined team of the best and brightest Microsoft and Novell engineers focused on making Windows Server and SUSE Linux Enterprise work better together. The first priority for the lab team will be to ensure interoperability between Microsoft and Novell virtualization technologies. Additional work will include standards-based systems management, identity federation and compatibility of office document formats.

The lab houses more than 80 servers of varying architectures as well as a storage area network. Microsoft and Novell are committed to including other vendors and technologies as the lab continues to grow to create a heterogeneous lab environment that reflects the current IT environments and interoperability challenges facing enterprise customers today.

More information on SUSE Linux Enterprise is available at http://www.novell.com/linux. More information on Microsoft is available at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass.

Microsoft and Novell Alliance Embraced by Wal-Mart

Microsoft Corp. and Novell Inc. today announced that Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, became the latest customer to take advantage of the benefits of the new collaboration on interoperability between Microsoft® Windows® and Linux®.* Under the agreement, Microsoft will deliver SUSE® Linux Enterprise Server subscription certificates to Wal-Mart for use in Wal-Mart’s IT infrastructure. The engagement among the three companies opens a host of other potential opportunities for both Microsoft and Novell to provide Wal-Mart with additional software resources and support, building on future joint research and developments around virtualization and interoperability.

Wal-Mart, already a significant user of Microsoft products, is pleased that the collaboration will improve interoperability among various systems. “We have wanted information technology vendors to deliver true interoperability and IP assurance between multiple platforms for some time now, and we are pleased that Microsoft and Novell are committed to fulfilling that need,” said Nancy Stewart, senior vice president and chief technology officer of Wal-Mart. “Wal-Mart is known around the world for its innovative use of technology. Selecting Microsoft and Novell is another step in that strategy. The net result is a win for us and, more importantly, for our customers.”

“Customers tell us every day that they need to operate a cost-effective IT organization and leverage the most they can out of their investments,” said Ron Hovsepian, president and CEO of Novell. “Through our relationship with Microsoft, we’ve created new opportunities for enterprise interoperability and virtualization that ultimately result in real savings for our customers. We are delighted that Wal-Mart has chosen SUSE Linux Enterprise, and we look forward to collaborating with them for many years.”

By working together with Microsoft and Novell, Wal-Mart gains the ability to manage Windows and Linux by extending its existing Microsoft management tool set and authentication platform: Systems Management Server, Active Directory® and Microsoft Operations Manager. Wal-Mart can also move to lower-cost commodity server hardware while simultaneously improving the customer experience.

“Customers tell us that they need interoperability and that they want their technology vendors to manage the underlying intellectual property issues in software,” said Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft. “We are delivering this to Wal-Mart and giving them peace of mind so they can focus on their business and build for the future.”

The Microsoft-Novell Agreement

On Nov. 2, 2006, Novell and Microsoft announced a series of agreements to jointly build, market and support new solutions to improve interoperability, deliver powerful new virtualization capabilities, make Microsoft and Novell products work better together, and give customers peace of mind that both companies stand behind the products they deliver. As part of this five-year agreement, Microsoft agreed to use, resell or distribute certificates that customers redeem to receive SUSE Linux Enterprise Server subscriptions for upgrades, updates and technical support from Novell.

Since the announcement, more than 35,000 new certificates for three-year priority support subscriptions to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server have been activated under the Microsoft and Novell collaboration agreement.

More information about the Microsoft and Novell agreement, including other customer announcements, can be found at http://www.novell.com/linux/microsoft and http://www.microsoft.com/interop/msnovellcollab/default.mspx

About Novell

Novell, Inc. (Nasdaq: NOVL) delivers infrastructure software for the Open Enterprise. We are a leader in enterprise-wide operating systems based on Linux and open source and the security and systems management services required to operate mixed IT environments. We help our customers minimize cost, complexity and risk, allowing them to focus on innovation and growth. For more information, visit http://www.novell.com