MSI Ships First Netbook Powered By SUSE Moblin From Novell

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- (International CES 2010) --Addressing the growing demand for lightweight, mobile netbook devices, MSI and Novell today announced the upcoming availability of SUSE® Moblin preloaded on the MSI U135 netbook. Following the recent release of Moblin(TM) version 2.1, this marks the first original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to sell a fully-supported Intel® Atom processor-based netbook running Moblin-based technology to consumers.

"Customers today are looking for devices that give them mobility and flexibility," said Sam Chern, director of Global Marketing at MSI. "MSI netbooks, in combination with SUSE Moblin, provide an innovative interface and robust computing capabilities as well as the cost-efficiency that our customers are looking for in these new devices."

Designed for the consumer and the enterprise, the MSI netbook offers a rich Internet experience with integrated e-mail, multimedia and Web browsing capabilities. Building on the latest innovations from the open source community and hardened by Novell and Intel, the MSI U135 netbook gives customers nearly all-day computing capabilities with long battery life and low power consumption built-in.

"The Moblin project has the potential to become an accessible and widely used computing platform," said Ram Peddibhotla, Open Source Business Director, Intel Software and Services Group. "We have worked closely with Novell in refining the current Moblin version 2.1 for the netbook. We are pleased to see companies like MSI and Novell embracing the technology, contributing to its development and bringing it fully-supported to customers."

Markus Rex, general manager, Novell Open Platform Solutions, said, "Novell is pleased to be working with MSI, a leading hardware vendor, to make SUSE Moblin the most user-friendly Linux netbook option for consumers. We have the most comprehensive Linux desktop portfolio available and with the growing interest in netbooks, we are continually improving SUSE Moblin to meet the demands of mobile computing users and expand the possibilities for Linux."

Availability

The MSI U135 running SUSE Moblin will be on display this week in the MSI booth #30651 at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) at the Las Vegas Convention Center South Hall 3 and will be generally available in February 2010.

For more information on SUSE Moblin from Novell, visit www.novell.com/moblin. Additional information about Moblin-based technology can be found at www.moblinzone.com.

About Moblin(TM) Project

Hosted by the Linux Foundation, Moblin project is an optimized open source Linux operating system project that delivers visually rich Internet and media experiences on Intel® Atom(TM) Processor-based devices including handhelds, netbooks/nettops, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), and embedded systems. More information can be found at www.moblin.org.

About MSI

MSI was founded in 1986 and is one of the world-class IT product leading brands. Based on the operating principle "Insist on the Best", MSI has shown a strong R & D capabilities and high production technology in motherboard and graphics card products. Adopting a diversified management and business strategy, MSI has also penetrate into the Notebook, All-in-One PC and Car Entertainment product fields. At an international brand development strategy, MSI has launched a new corporate identity system (CIS), as well as corporate slogan "Insist on the Best". It also represents a new era in MSI's brand development. With high productivity, high technology, and high quality R & D niche, MSI is expected to become one of the top 10 notebook and system brands in the world in 2010 and 2012. Apart from the market operation, MSI fulfills more efforts in our corporate citizenship, taking into account environmental protection and social feedback. In March this year, MSI has been chosen simultaneously as one of "2009 Top 50 Corporate Citizens" and "2009 Top CSR Excellent Enterprises" from CommonWealth Magazine and Global Views Magazine in Taiwan. In the future, MSI will continue to commit and implement corporate social responsibility in company governance. Fulfilling its responsibilities as world citizen, MSI will do more specific actions and contribution to public awareness to achieve "Beautiful Life, Green Homeland", our goal and commitment to stakeholders.

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 and SUSE are registered trademarks of Novell, Inc. in the United States and other countries. *All third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

SOURCE Novell, Inc.