This week's move by Microsoft and Novell to extend their alliance into the technology-hungry Chinese market is a clear sign of the pragmatic approach being taken by software vendors to make open source and proprietary software interoperable in response to growing customer demand, says Microsoft SA's Paulo Ferreira.
Part of Novell and Microsoft's collaboration will focus on efforts to convert unsupported Linux users to SUSE Linux Enterprise support, in China and elsewhere, which builds upon a growing global trend of large, multinational companies increasing their demand for subscribed and supported software platforms.
This is due partly to the growing recognition among customers of the true costs and risk associated with running an unsupported IT environment, including the need for patches and bug fixes, supporting forked code, and retaining IT staff, says Ferreira.
"Chinese businesses are increasingly relying on combinations of software based on Microsoft's Windows operating systems and non-proprietary systems," said Ferreira. "We recognise that our customers want to use Microsoft products in mixed environments, and are working to drive this kind of interoperability wherever we can."
Microsoft says companies like the People's Insurance Company of China Group (PICCG), The Dairy Farm Company and Dawning Information Industry have agreed to receive Microsoft certificates for three-year support subscriptions for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server from Novell.
"It's very encouraging to see that our business and technical collaboration continues to resonate with customers around the globe," said Ron Hovsepian, president and CEO of Novell. "Both Novell and Microsoft are committed to furthering this alliance, and we couldn't be happier with the results to date. PICC, Dairy Farm and Dawning exemplify the benefits our strengthened alliance provides for the international IT community."
Microsoft and Novell's collaboration in China will also focus on joint marketing and training efforts that tap into two emerging areas of interoperability demand: high-performance computing (SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and Microsoft Windows Compute Cluster Server running in a dual-boot configuration) and virtualisation (cross-platform virtualisation solutions featuring Microsoft Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 with Xen technology).
Ya-Qin Zang, Microsoft corporate vice-president and chairman of Microsoft China, said Chinese companies were recognising the challenges of deploying and managing heterogeneous IT environments and the opportunities to simplify with solutions such as the dual-boot operating system configuration from Microsoft and Novell.
"We are very pleased with the original approach by Microsoft and Novell to address our concerns about deploying and managing a complex high-performance computing infrastructure across two platforms. It is essential for our future competitiveness and success that we can simplify with such solutions and look forward to further utilising the standards-based systems management technologies being developed by both companies," said Nie Hua, vice-president of Dawning. "We fully understand the concerns surrounding intellectual property rights and feel reassured that these issues have been addressed by our vendors."
"The Microsoft-Novell collaboration helps to solve interoperability problems and creates a more harmonious IT ecosystem. We are confident that Microsoft and Novell would be able to provide the right level of support when we go ahead," said Colin Rice, IT director of the Dairy Farm. Dairy Farm is a leading pan-Asian retailer, including 7-Eleven in Hong Kong, Macau, Southern China and Singapore, and other well-known local brands.
As part of the five-year Microsoft-Novell agreement, announced in 2006, Microsoft can make subscription certificates available for customers to redeem SUSE Linux Enterprise Server support services directly from Novell. Since the announcement, Novell has invoiced more than $141 million in SUSE Linux Enterprise Server subscriptions from the Microsoft and Novell collaboration agreement.
A recently released study by IDC, "Worldwide Linux Operating Environments 2008-2012 Forecast: Taking Linux to the Next Level,"1 reported that SUSE Linux Enterprise-paid server operating environment (SOE) subscriptions increased by 38.6% from 2006 to 2007 and that Novell's share of the paid SOE market increased from 26.1% in 2006 to 29% in 2007.
IDC stated in the report, "That surge, thanks to the company's alliance and interoperability efforts with Microsoft, led to a highly successful year for Novell in 2007." Novell's 2006-2007 growth was the highest of any paid or unpaid SOE distribution tracked by this study.
More information about the Microsoft and Novell agreement, including other customer announcements, can be found at http://www.moreinterop.com.
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