Novell released a major update to its flagship open
source server product, SuSE Linux Enterprise 10, and rolled out new
desktop, groupware and identity management products at its
Brainshare user conference last week.
Analysts said the new products mean Novell is now offering a
stronger alternative to Microsoft than in previous years, but it is
unlikely to attract many enterprise users away from its competitor
just yet.
The new version of SuSE Linux Enterprise features many popular
open source tools and technologies, making it a cost-effective
alternative to other enterprise server operating platforms.
For example, the Linux-based virtualisation tool Xen allows IT
departments to consolidate workloads onto a single server to reduce
IT costs and utilise spare server capacity. Novell is the first
enterprise Linux supplier to incorporate Xen and is some months
ahead of Red Hat, which is expected to do the same.
Enterprise 10 also has Novell Apparmor, an open source security
suite that covers the desktop and server environments and
individual enterprise applications.
In addition, Enterprise 10 features high-availability storage
and clustering technologies such as Oracle Cluster File System 2,
and Enterprise Volume Manager. Plus there is a suite of development
tools, including the widely used Mono, to build new applications
based on Linux.
For the desktop, Novell has produced a new version of its Linux
desktop operating system, which shares features of both Mac OS and
Windows, and is easy to use, according to analysts.
Novell demonstrated new security and identity management
technologies to help companies automate identity provisioning,
simplify single sign-on, and manage shared network resources. New
versions of Securelogin, Storage Manager and Designer for Novell
Identity Manager were released.
The shrinking number of Netware users also received good news at
Brainshare as Novell chief executive Jack Messman said the firm
would support Netware until "at least 2015".
Richard Edwards, research analyst at Butler Group, said, "Novell
is still struggling to find direction, and is being squeezed by
Microsoft, Google, Yahoo and WebEx on one side, and IBM, Sun, HP
and Red Hat on the other.
"Novell's best bet is to service its existing customers, grow
its share of the Linux mid-market space, and to make a play for
emerging markets where Microsoft is currently struggling."
Laurent Lachal, senior analyst at Ovum, said, "Will Novell be
able to snatch customers from the jaws of Microsoft? Not in droves,
but they have shown they are building up their capability and are
not standing still. They have an increasingly attractive
proposition at many levels."
He added that Novell has a strong UK user base, with customers
including the NHS, ITV, Leeds City Council and other local
authorities.
"I spoke to the NHS and they thought that Novell had got its act
together and was much more focused. The users have much more faith
in the company than they had four years ago," said Lachal.
Last December, the NHS signed a £22m contract with Novell for a
new identity management, application management and Linux-based
server infrastructure.
The three-year deal is part of the wider NHS Connecting for
Health programme, and lets the NHS use Novell software to support
the organisation's infrastructure, covering more than 600,000
workstations.
Leeds City Council uses a range of Novell Linux-based
applications, including Netware 6.5, Zenworks, Edirectory, and
Identity Manager with iChain.
Novell offers new low-cost package
At Brainshare, Novell unveiled a low-cost desktop and server
software suite based on Open Enterprise Server and Groupwise for
Linux.
The Linux Open Workgroup Suite includes management tools (Novell
Zenworks Suite), e-mail (Netware), collaboration (Groupwise), and
Novell's version of Openoffice.
The office suite allows users to run many Microsoft Excel
spreadsheet macros - a feature that was previously lacking.
The bundle costs £63 per device or user for a perpetual licence.
In addition, users can upgrade any component of the suite when a
new version is available, independent of any other component.
Novell makes sense for ITV
Television network ITV is a large Novell user, and has migrated
its Unix datacentre systems to Novell SuSE Linux Enterprise
Server.
The company also uses Open Enterprise Server, a Novell identity
and access management system, and Novell Zenworks.
It runs many critical Unix and Oracle applications on the Novell
infrastructure.
Nick Leake, director of operations and infrastructure at ITV,
said, "For us, running Linux in our enterprise datacentre makes a
lot of sense. It gives us high levels of reliability and
performance, as well as a low running cost."