SUSE Linux Enterprise in the Americas

From the Article in Forbes:

The U.S government can save billions and foster innovation if it deploys open-source software.

President Obama has been praised and vilified for exploring the use of open-source technology. Yet touting open-source software use in the public sector is nothing new. The U.S. actually lags behind the governments of the Netherlands, Brazil and others that have effectively mandated open source over proprietary software in civil and federal government. The U.K. recently moved to favor open-source adoption while the European Commission has recommended the adoption of open source across all European Union member countries.

Read More.

SUSE Linux Enterprise 11 has shipped and is now available!! http://www.novell.com/linux

Overview:

* SUSE Linux Enterprise Server is the highly reliable, scalable and secure server operating system that powers your physical and virtual workloads. Featuring the fastest Linux update stack, diskless server capabilities, Green IT innovations that lower your power consumption, and performance optimizations to run as a virtual guest on VMware, Xen and Hyper-V, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server sets the standard for enterprise-class server computing.

* SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop delivers dozens of essential applications and seamless interoperability with your existing systems, while providing an easy-to-use and highly secure desktop experience. With application and multimedia enhancements, Green IT innovations that reduce desktop power usage, and maximum interoperability with Microsoft Office and Exchange, it will help you lower costs and increase productivity.

Full press release: http://www.novell.com/news/press/novell-ships-suse-linux-enterprise-11/

Key Themes:

• World-class Partner Ecosystem
• Advanced Linux Management
• Ubiquity: Linux how you want it, where you want it
• Interoperability: Leverage existing IT investments
• Mission-Critical Computing: Designed to support your most important business needs

Learn more at our live events  –  http://www.novell.com/evolutiontour

From the article:

After a year on loan as CTO at the Linux Foundation, Markus Rex has returned to Novell just in time to shepherd the final push for SUSE Linux Enterprise 11. Due for release in the next few months, SUSE 11 has been in the works for two years. Rex says SUSE 11 includes major improvements in virtualization, cloud computing and interoperability.

“Everybody is interested in Linux in the data center,” said Rex, who is now the acting general manager and senior VP of the Open Platform Solutions business unit at Waltham, Mass.-based Novell Inc. “The new cloud appliances and virtual appliances are a tremendous growth opportunity for Linux and Novell.”

Read More.

SalesTalks are for the busy sales and technical pre-sales professional or anyone who could use a few concise and quotable talking points when discussing the merits of using SLE in their environment.

In this episode of Novell Sales Talk, I’m joined by Cameron Seader, one of our top support pro’s for a discussion of what is new and cool in the upcoming SUSE Linux Enterprise Version 11.  Cameron’s perspective as someone who deals with customers all day long and knows the insides of the code is very helpful in understanding what the impact of many of the new features mean, and what’s changed to improve the customer’s experience.

If you have any suggestions or comments about SalesTalk topics or past shows, please email them to ross (at) novell.com.

Podcast: Novell Sales Talk – Why Upgrade to SLE 11

• Novell SalesTalk Home
• Novell SalesTalk Linux Home

Enjoy,

RossB

I know cost is not the only consideration… but thinking about how price sensitive everyone seems to be these days, would a 44% discount cause you think twice?  Personally, it would at least get my attention and I’d look into it a bit more… regardless of whether we’re talking Linux or a new pair of socks.

Aren’t you being asked to look for cost cutting measures like everyone else??

Today I got the latest SearchEnterpriseLinux.com newsletter and the opening headline reads “Would you consider switching from Red Hat to Novell if the price were right?”  The author then goes on to mention Novell’s recent announcement to support Red Hat for customers transitioning to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server from Novell.  She also mentions that our list price is $3748 per server, compared with $3507 and $6747 for Red Hat’s offerings.  By my calculation, that makes us 44% less costly than RHEL Advanced Platform.

She doesn’t mention that our $3748 product, is feature equivalent (if not “better”) than RHEL Advanced.  We’ve mentioned it many times in this blog, but I’ll recap here briefly in case you missed it…

• SLES includes unlimited virtual machines, even on VMware or Hyper-V
• SLES includes clustering and virtualization in all subscriptions, not just the most expensive one
• SLES includes license support for 32 processor-sockets (technology limit is MUCH  higher) in all subscriptions, not just the most expensive one
• and the list goes on and on…

So that leads me to the question I originally asked… If you can save 44% (and apparently you can), and the alternative can do as good a job if not better, wouldn’t that at least make you curious to consider the alternative?  If your answer is still No, I’d be curious to know why not… Please share your thoughts with us in a comment.

At least that’s what I hope like heck this all means!

From the Press Release:

Transitive technology is currently included as part of the IBM PowerVMTM software designed to help customers consolidate their x86 Linux workloads onto IBM Systems. IBM is seeing a growing trend of customers migrating from under-utilized servers to IBM Systems, including onto mainframe and Power Systems. The company is committed to developing additional tools and solutions to make migrations even easier, while minimizing the risk and increasing the financial returns for clients as they consolidate and virtualize to achieve significant business benefit.

Notice my emphasis added above, for years we have lusted after having the ability to run native x86 applications and workloads inside VM’s on Mainframes.  If this carefully-worded press release does contain the seeds of this capability, this is great news.

RossB

What is it?:

The Americas Partner Update is a monthly webinar held on the second Monday of each month at 11:00 Eastern Time. Each webinar covers a given topic for 30 minutes with a Q&A to follow.

When do they happen?:

Bookmark the America’s Partner Update page, or read below…

Upcoming Events

August 11th, 2008—Virtualization

Virtualization is one of the hottest topics in IT today. Most of your customers are familiar with the benefits of virtualization and are actively virtualizing workloads today. But many of these customers are realizing that these benefits come at a significant cost and budget constraints may be stalling their progress. During this webinar we will discuss Novell’s virtualization solution and why it makes sense to diversify your virtualization offerings to include Linux and Open Source. Novell’s solution will give you a truly competitive offering that will help drive more hardware sales and give your customers the technology they need to continue and accelerate their virtualization projects.

Register Now

September 8th, 2008—Windows and Linux Interoperability

Your customers depend on Windows. That’s why Novell and Microsoft are working together to drive interoperability between Windows and Linux. Which means that your customers can comfortably use both—and you can more easily sell Linux desktop solutions. Show them how to leverage Linux to replace costly Windows licenses where it makes sense. Join us to discuss what interoperability—and Linux—can do for your Windows customers.

Register Now

October 13th, 2008—Desktop Linux—A Viable Alternative to Windows

There are times when only a Windows PC will do the job. And then there are times—most of the time, in fact—where a less-expensive Linux option can meet the need just as well. Join us: We’ll show you why Linux is a great choice for many of your customers, and how SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop delivers an exceptional desktop experience for the majority of standard office users…at a very compelling price point.

Register Now

If virtualization is in your vocabulary these days, and who in IT doesn’t finish the day without saying it at least a dozen times… (at least that’s what it feels like) — you should understand including SUSE Linux Enterprise is not about “either/or” but rather “and”.

What the heck am I talking about??

While Xen is included in our distribution, our solutions go way beyond the inclusion of a hypervisor. SUSE Linux Enterprise will actually work with whatever major virtualization technology you want to use, and we can probably even help you manage them all. We’ve posted several articles on the topic and discussed it many times, but I wanted to share a couple of additional examples with you…

For starters, here’s a recent win over Red Hat (mentioned over at SearchEnterpriseLinux.com) where the customer fully recognized the value that Novell’s solution brings to the table in virtualization solutions other than Novell”s — Microsoft Hyper-V, Virtual Iron, Citrix XenSource, etc. — or as in this case VMware.

Virtualization restrictions increased Novell’s fiscal advantage since a Red Hat license limits the number of VMware virtualized machines to four for every physical machine, while SUSE allows unlimited virtualization, either on Citrix Systems Inc.’s Xen or VMware Inc., he said. This became an important differentiator for Novell, because Invitrogen is committed to VMware, which it rolled out last fall, he said. (full article and the related Novell press release)

The point here is that regardless of the virtualization technology you adopt, we’ll enhance that solution… we’re all about giving customers a choice.

For those that would rather use a more open solution or perhaps a much lower-cost alternative to VMware (see my cost comparison post), check this article out…

Before choosing SUSE Linux Enterprise with built-in Xen virtualization, VIST also considered VMware Inc.’s and Citrix Systems Inc.’s offerings but decided on Novell as the best virtualization fit for VIST’s environment, McLaine said. VMware was “substantially more expensive” and would have required more hardware and additional labor to operate, he said. While Citrix was comparable to Novell in functionality, it didn’t have Novell support and integration, he said.

“SUSE offers virtualization at substantial cost savings, so the switch is a no-brainer,” he said. “It makes my job that much easier.”

(full article)

And while you might say to yourself that you need some management tools too (not just a hypervisor), were you aware of ZENworks Orchestrator and similarly the PlateSpin family of products we offer? …but that’ll have to wait for another post.

PlateSpin PowerConvert 7.0 delivers most comprehensive multi-platform support for Windows and Linux in mixed data center environments

ORLANDO, Fla. (Gartner IT Infrastructure, Operations & Management Summit)— 23 Jun 2008— PlateSpin ULC, a Novell® company, today announced the launch of PlateSpin PowerConvert® Version 7.0 with new backup and recovery features and expanded multi-platform support to help enterprises migrate and protect server workloads across heterogeneous physical and virtual IT environments. The first major product release since the company was acquired by Novell in March 2008, PowerConvert 7.0 gives customers a true enterprise-class solution to simplify the management of server workloads in their heterogeneous data centers.

“Since implementing PlateSpin PowerConvert, we have realized tangible benefits and savings,” said Steve Houghton, infrastructure solutions architect, Norwich Union IT Solutions, an Aviva company. “We have seen a significant improvement in the performance of the data center with scheduling and remote management tools at our fingertips and an increase in productivity with over 1,000 virtual machines in operation. PowerConvert has been instrumental to ensuring the day-to-day running of business functions and has given us the opportunity to reduce emissions, cut costs and increase efficiencies across the board.”

With extended support for Linux* and Windows*-based workloads, PowerConvert provides new image-based disaster recovery capabilities and migration speed enhancements for large-scale implementations. In addition to providing enhanced SUSE® Linux Enterprise support, PlateSpin PowerConvert now provides broader support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux, as well as support for critical 64-Bit Microsoft Windows Server-based workloads and Citrix XenServer environments. PowerConvert provides the flexibility to optimize data centers by decoupling server workloads from the underlying hardware and streaming them over the network between physical servers, blade infrastructures, virtual hosts and image archives.

“Since Novell’s acquisition of PlateSpin in March, the two organizations have worked closely to put in place a data center strategy and product roadmap to help customers achieve an agile enterprise in which business services can span physical and virtual environments,” said Stephen Pollack, chief executive officer of PlateSpin, a Novell company. “To build the next-generation data center infrastructure, organizations need enterprise-caliber multi-platform workload portability, robust and scalable workload protection and reliable policy-based orchestration, PlateSpin PowerConvert 7.0 is designed to help customers achieve this flexibility and maximize their investment in virtualization.”

New PowerConvert 7.0 Features:

• Linux “Anywhere-to-Physical” Migrations – Powerful physical-to-physical (P2P) and virtual-to-physical (V2P) capabilities enable migration of Linux workloads across physical or virtual boundaries for 32-bit SUSE Linux Enterprise Server from Novell and Red Hat Enterprise Linux, giving customers the ability to accelerate data center initiatives including server consolidation, hardware lease migration and data center relocation.
• Windows 64-Bit Support – Windows 64-Bit physical-to-virtual (P2V) migration for critical Windows Server 2003 workloads with support for various transfer methods, including Take Control, Live File Transfer and Snapshot for VMware ESX 3.x, 3.5 and Citrix XEN Enterprise 4.1, offers customers an effective migration option in a single solution.
• Enhanced Citrix XenServer Support – Support for anywhere-to-virtual (X2V) and virtual-to-image (V2I) workload migrations for Citrix XenServer Enterprise 4.1 including 32-bit Windows XP, 2000, 2003 and 64-Bit Windows Server 2003 allows customers to accelerate and simplify integration and maximize their IT investment.
• Incremental Imaging Capabilities – Flexible imaging support brings greater workload protection while enabling significant savings in terms of staffing time, bandwidth and storage costs. Superior image import and export capabilities and automation enable organizations to more easily create and manage an image-based repository of server workloads for backup and disaster recovery and reduce imaging costs.
• Enterprise-class Speed and Reliability – Dramatically improved transfer speeds for workload migrations over a wide range of network types from Gigabit Ethernet networks to high-latency WAN environments – all with reliable enterprise-class workload migration functionality including Server Sync, job automation and post-migration testing capabilities that minimize downtime while maximizing the integrity of the workload migration. PowerConvert’s enterprise-caliber reliability reduces overall migration project times, lowers business risk and accelerates time to value for large-scale data center initiatives.

Availability

PlateSpin PowerConvert 7.0 is now shipping worldwide. For more information on how to purchase PlateSpin PowerConvert and applicable pricing in your region, contact your local authorized PlateSpin reseller, email info@platespin.com or visit http://www.platespin.com/products/powerconvert. Resellers and distributors interested in joining PlateSpin’s global partner community should contact us at http://www.platespin.com/partner.PlateSpin, a Novell company, provides a unified suite of solutions to help enterprises adopt, manage and extend their use of server virtualization in the data center. PlateSpin’s Workload Portability technology liberates workloads from hardware platforms, allowing data, applications and operating systems to be migrated over the network between any physical or virtual host. The ability to migrate, protect, provision and optimize server workloads across physical and virtual environments helps enterprises reduce cost, complexity and risk. With integrated workload profiling and planning, PlateSpin solutions improve the speed and quality of data center initiatives and ease the burden of managing mixed IT environments. For more information, visit http://www.platespin.com.

About Novell

Novell, Inc. (Nasdaq: NOVL) delivers the best engineered, most interoperable Linux platform and a portfolio of integrated IT management software that helps customers around the world reduce cost, complexity and risk. With our infrastructure software and ecosystem of partnerships, Novell harmoniously integrates mixed IT environments, allowing people and technology to work as one. For more information, visit www.novell.com.

Novell, PlateSpin, PowerConvert and SUSE are registered trademarks and Server Sync and Workload Portability are trademarks of Novell, Inc. in the United States and other countries. *Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. All other third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Press Contact

Kerry Adorno
Novell, Inc.
Telephone: +1 781 464-8042
Email: kadorno@novell.com

Many of us who pay attention to the Linux community recognize that moving from a proprietary hardware and OS (such as Solaris on SPARC hardware) to an open source OS (such as SUSE Linux Enterprise Server) and commodity hardware can save a lot of IT budget.  But the question is… how much will it save and how long before I recoup my migration costs?

Novell recently posted a Solaris-to-Linux TCO Calculator which calculates the total cost of ownership over a 3 or 5 year period.  It gives you nice charts like these and you can customize just about every parameter.  Using mostly default selections, I threw in some basic figures (1000 users, 10 Sun servers, running a database), and the calculator showed a savings of well over $5M in direct costs over 5 years!

Check it out at the Unix-to-Linux home page.

Plug in your numbers and post a comment letting us know how much you can save…