Wal-Mart has detailed its
plans to use Novell's SuSE Linux Enterprise Server as a platform to
connect its IT systems.
Nancy Stewart, chief executive of the global retailer, told
Computer Weekly that Wal-Mart's plans to deploy Linux would allow
it to move to lower-cost commodity servers "without sacrificing
performance".
Wal-Mart, which owns
Asda, is a big user of Microsoft technology,
and last month signed a joint agreement with Novell and Microsoft
to help it manage both its Windows and Linux environments using the
Microsoft Operations Manager system management tool and the Active
Directory platform for authentication.
Wal-Mart is one of the first organisations to benefit from a
tie-up between Microsoft and Novell. The rival operating system
providers are collaborating on technology to support virtualisation
within datacentre systems running both Linux and Windows. Through
the agreement with Novell, Microsoft will be providing Wal-Mart
with SuSE Linux Enterprise Server.
Stewart said, "We regard virtualisation as an important part of
our strategy. It has a real potential to increase server
utilisation and therefore reduce the number of physical servers
needed to support our enterprise." This would not only reduce IT
hardware expenditure, but also the impact on the environment by
cutting datacentre power and cooling costs, she added.
Stewart said the company was assessing how best to manage its
heterogeneous Windows and SuSE Linux environment. "We will be
evaluating System Management Server, Active Directory and Microsoft
Operations Manager to see whether they are a good fit in our Linux
environment," she said.
Stewart will also evaluate using Linux elsewhere in the
business. "We will be looking at many areas, including our radio
frequency identification initiatives where SuSE Linux will be a
fit," she said.
Microsoft and
Novell tie-up
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