VMware and Novell Expand Strategic Partnership to Deliver and Support SUSE® Linux Enterprise Server for VMware vSphere™ Environments
VMware Also Selects SUSE Linux Enterprise Server as Standard OS for VMware Virtual Appliance-based Product Offerings
PALO ALTO, Calif., and WALTHAM, Mass., June 9, 2010 — VMware and Novell today announced an expansion to their strategic partnership with an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) agreement through which VMware will distribute and support the SUSE® Linux Enterprise Server operating system. Under the agreement, VMware also intends to standardize its virtual appliance-based product offerings on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.
Customers who want to deploy SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for VMware® in VMware vSphere™ virtual machines will be entitled to receive a subscription to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server that includes patches and updates as part of their newly purchased qualifying VMware vSphere license and Support and Subscription. Under this agreement, VMware and its extensive network of solution provider partners will also be able to offer customers the option to purchase technical support for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server delivered directly by VMware for a seamless support experience. This expanded relationship between VMware and Novell benefits customers by reducing the cost and complexity of deploying and maintaining an enterprise operating system with VMware solutions.
As a result of this expanded collaboration, both companies intend to provide customers the ability to port their SUSE Linux-based workloads across clouds. Such portability will deliver choice and flexibility for VMware vSphere customers and is a significant step forward in delivering the benefits of seamless cloud computing.
Several VMware products are already distributed and deployed as virtual appliances. A virtual appliance is a pre-configured virtual machine that packages an operating system and application into a self-contained unit that is easy to deploy, manage and maintain. Standardizing virtual appliance-based VMware products on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for VMware® will further simplify the deployment and ongoing management of these solutions, shortening the path to ROI.
“VMware’s mission is to reduce IT complexity and provide customers a pragmatic path to the cloud,” said Raghu Raghuram, senior vice president and general manager, Virtualization and Cloud Platforms, VMware. “By delivering SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for VMware® with every qualified VMware vSphere™ subscription, customers can more easily and cost-effectively virtualize Linux applications, accelerate their evolution to a fully virtualized datacenter and simplify portability of their applications to cloud environments.”
“We are pleased that VMware, the leader in virtualization solutions, intends to standardize its virtual appliances on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, as well as be able to distribute SUSE Linux Enterprise Server with VMware vSphere™,” said Joe Wagner, senior vice president and general manager, Global Alliances, Novell. “This strategic partnership gives VMware and Novell customers a simplified and lower-cost way to virtualize and manage their IT environments, from the datacenter to the cloud. It gives our partners exciting new solutions with which to modernize their customers' IT environments and deliver significant ROI. This agreement is also a strong validation of Novell's intelligent workload management strategy.”
VMware vSphere is the industry’s most complete and widely deployed virtualization platform, providing the foundation to transform datacenters into dynamic, simplified infrastructures for private, public and hybrid cloud environments. With the most comprehensive set of capabilities for availability, security, resource optimization and business continuity, VMware vSphere enables the next generation of IT services while preserving customers’ flexibility to choose between any type of OS, application and hardware.
For complete details go to www.vmware.com/go/sles-for-vmware.
About Novell
Novell, Inc. (Nasdaq: NOVL), a leader in Intelligent Workload Management, helps organizations securely deliver and manage computing services across physical, virtual and cloud computing environments. We help customers reduce the cost, complexity, and risk associated with their IT systems through our solutions for identity and security, systems management, collaboration and Linux-based operating platforms. With our infrastructure software and ecosystem of partnerships, Novell integrates mixed IT environments, allowing people and technology to work as one. For more information, visit www.novell.com.
About VMware
VMware (NYSE: VMW) delivers solutions for business infrastructure virtualization that enable IT organizations to energize businesses of all sizes. With the industry leading virtualization platform – VMware vSphere™ – customers rely on VMware to reduce capital and operating expenses, improve agility, ensure business continuity, strengthen security and go green. With 2009 revenues of $2.9 billion, more than 170,000 customers and 25,000 partners, VMware is the leader in virtualization which consistently ranks as a top priority among CIOs. VMware is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the world and can be found online at www.vmware.com.
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