Novell Collaborates With IBM to Deliver Software Appliances Across Physical, Virtual and Cloud Environments

WALTHAM, Mass., April 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Novell today announced IBM is delivering a portfolio of software appliances across IBM brands, all powered by SUSE® Linux Enterprise Server. Leveraging the SUSE Appliance Program from Novell, this broad-based initiative enables IBM to deliver "plug and play" appliances that substantially lower the cost and complexity of deploying applications for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and help independent software vendors (ISVs) significantly expand their routes to market.

With just a few mouse clicks, IBM customers and partners can now quickly and easily deploy customized and fully-tested software appliances to physical, virtual or cloud environments, and IBM is offering virtual stacks on the IBM Smart Business Development and Test Cloud.

"We see tremendous value in software appliances as it gives our customers and partners unprecedented flexibility combined with greater speed-to-market and lower overall costs," said Jean Staten Healy, director, Linux strategy, IBM.

Software appliances are pre-configured combinations of an application, middleware and operating system integrated into a single image and tailored to run on industry-standard hardware. Using software appliances ISVs can simplify the packaging of their solutions for multiple environments, allowing them to test, deploy and scale their offerings to their customers' specific needs. This offers unprecedented opportunities to deliver simplified, highly-portable, tailored solutions free of the maintenance headaches that have often plagued enterprise IT. In effect, appliances make it possible to "mass customize" application delivery and furnish a fully-integrated solution faster and more efficiently than before.

"The software industry is adopting software appliances as an easier way to package and distribute software," said Joe Wagner, senior vice president and general manager of Global Alliances at Novell. "In fact, IDC forecasts the software appliance market to grow to $1.18 billion by 2012.(1) Having an industry leader such as IBM adopt software appliances is another indicator of the strength of this market. Add to this IBM partners like Black Diamond Software, who provide complete IBM middleware development stacks to enterprises as software appliances, and our other recent software appliance initiatives with several ISVs including GroundWork Open Source, Ingres and Zmanda, and it is clear this market is growing."

IBM delivers Linux-based software appliances

The combination of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and IBM software represents a significant step forward in providing affordable, reliable, easy-to-use software appliances. IBM has created appliances based on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server in the following areas:

• IBM Lotus Foundations – A complete technology and collaboration solution for small and medium-sized businesses. Using software appliances provides faster access and adoption of solutions, from accounting packages to a local network infrastructure.
• IBM Lotus Protector for Mail Security – Protects IBM Lotus® Domino® and mixed email infrastructure from spam, viruses and other threats originating on the Internet. Using software appliances means protection can be installed and running in a matter of hours.
• IBM WebSphere Application Server Hypervisor Edition– Offers all of the robust features of the WebSphere Application Server Family for virtual environments. By configuring and packaging as an appliance with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, customers can activate an optimized instance of WebSphere quickly and efficiently.
• IBM Cognos Now! – Delivers operational dashboards for real-time monitoring of key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics across disparate data sources.
• IBM Smart Analytics Optimizer – Enables a new class of high-speed business intelligence and analytic queries.

About the SUSE Appliance Program

Since its launch in July 2009, Novell has had overwhelming support from IBM and other market leaders for the SUSE Appliance Program – the first, complete, end-to-end solution that enables ISVs to rapidly build, update, configure and go-to-market with fully-supported software and virtual appliances. Built on the SUSE Linux Enterprise platform, the SUSE Appliance Program is transforming the way ISVs package and distribute software offerings, enabling them to quickly deliver existing applications to physical, virtual and cloud computing environments, reduce sales cycles and pursue new market opportunities. Available online and on-premise, SUSE Studio™ is an innovative tool for creating, testing and deploying software appliances. SUSE Studio has almost 70,000 registered users who have built more than 311,000 appliances.

For more information on the SUSE Appliance Program, visit www.novell.com/appliances. For more information on the Novell and IBM partnership, visit http://www.novell.com/partners/ibm.

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 and Studio is a trademark of Novell Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. *All third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

(1) "Worldwide Software Appliance 2008-2012 Forecast: A Workload Analysis" IDC #213783, August 2008.

SOURCE Novell, Inc.