Thousands of New Partners Join Novell in Linux Push
WALTHAM, Mass., 21-05-2004
- Developers quick to embrace Novell as Linux platform for enterprise development
- Novell channel partners strengthen Linux focus and expertise
- Hardware and software vendors expand cooperative work with Novell around Linux
Reflecting growing industry support of Novell's
Linux strategy, new software developers, channel partners, and independent
software and hardware vendors are partnering with Novell at a record pace. More
than 10,000 developers have joined Novell's developer program in the last six
months, while registered users of Novell® Forge, the company's hosted site for
open source projects, have expanded 60 percent since Novell's January 2004
acquisition of SUSE® LINUX.
Novell continues to expand its work with top-tier hardware vendors, including IBM
and HP, conducting joint training and other customer-focused activities that
complement existing technology bundling agreements. Novell's channel partners have
also embraced Novell's Linux strategy at a rapid pace, increasing their Linux
solutions business significantly over the last year. With this large and growing
global partner ecosystem, Novell has unparalleled resources for delivering Linux
solutions to customers worldwide.
"Partners will be critical to Novell's success in expanding into the Linux
market," said Hal Bennett, vice president for business development at Novell.
"With our deep enterprise expertise and installed base, our extensive identity
management, resource management and web services technologies, and our global
reach, Novell offers compelling advantages to partners that other Linux
distributors simply can't match. More importantly, the rapid growth of our partner
ecosystem around Linux gives our customers new options both in the breadth of
Linux solutions they can deploy and how they're delivered."
Novell announced its Linux strategy in spring 2003, committing to developing its
networking services for both NetWare® and Linux going forward. Novell deepened
this commitment to Linux over the last year by acquiring leading Linux companies
Ximian® and SUSE LINUX. As a result of these moves, Novell has emerged as a leader
in the commercial Linux space. Now Novell is extending that leadership through
rapid growth in the range of partners supporting Novell's Linux initiatives, from
individual developers to solution providers to large software and hardware
vendors. This large and growing global partner ecosystem far exceeds that of any
other Linux distributor. Key evidence of that growth include:
- The addition of 10,184 new members to Novell's DeveloperNet® program in the last
six months, bringing the number of active members to roughly 40,000.
- 55 percent of Novell channel partners support Linux in their business, versus 15
percent in early 2003
- The addition of more than 100 SUSE LINUX-based products to Novell's Partner
Product Guide, helping drive the numbers of online hits on the guide from 12,144
in January 2004 to nearly 22,000 in April.
- New ISV and IHV partners, and expanded relationships with existing IHV partners
like IBM and HP around training and go-to-market activities.
- More than 5,000 registered users on Novell Forge, a site hosting Novell's open
source projects, representing a 60 percent increase over the last three months.
- 380 open source projects hosted on Novell Forge, including 50 new additions in
the last three months.
- Strong open source community endorsement of Novell's recent decision to open
source key management, file storage, and collaboration technologies.
Customer interest in Novell's Linux offerings is driving developers to build on
the Novell Linux platform. "Over the last year, an increasing number of customers
have asked about running our applications on Linux," said Ben Loy, Sr. V.P.
Industry Relations at PDX-Rx.com, the leading provider of single source code-based
retail pharmacy applications in North America. "We were leaning toward another and
possibly better known enterprise version of Linux as our initial platform.
However, at the request of our customers, we decided to meet with Novell. We were
so impressed with the technology, product stability and support that Novell
offered that we quickly and easily decided to make Novell SUSE LINUX our standard
Linux platform. We also foresee that Novell's extensive enterprise reach can
provide new growth opportunities for us."
Large hardware vendors are also looking to Novell as a partner with strong growth
potential. In March, Novell signed an agreement with IBM to provide SUSE LINUX
across their server portfolio and an agreement with HP to provide and standardize
SUSE LINUX across HP's client systems in addition to enterprise servers. Novell is
expanding these relationships to provide additional benefits for customers. Novell
and IBM have jointly provided basic Linux training to over 3,000 individuals over
the last two months, with an eventual target of 10,000 trained, while Novell and
HP recently completed a series of joint seminars promoting Linux across 33 cities
in North America to nearly 4,000 attendees.
Novell's embrace of Linux has been equally validated by the solutions and service
delivery component of Novell's partner universe - its solution provider partners
in the channel. Novell has more than 3,500 active channel partners worldwide in
its PartnerNet® program - with thousands more who sell Novell technologies -
ensuring that customers can get qualified local sales and service support on
Novell solutions. Echoing Novell's own Linux moves, Novell's channel has jumped
aggressively into the Linux environment. In a survey conducted in the spring of
2003 the percentage of Novell solution providers doing business in Linux was just
over 15 percent. Today, 55 percent of all channel partners profiled in Novell
PartnerNet indicate they support Linux as a platform. Enthusiasm for the
PartnerNet program itself is high: Novell's PartnerNet renewal's for 2004 have
already reached 100 percent of the level for all of 2003.
"Lille Corp silently aligned itself with Novell several years ago when they began
to address Linux in their management products" says Jordan Rosen, CEO of Lille
Corp, a specialist in Linux solutions for healthcare. "They also distributed
Apache, Tomcat and other open source products in their offerings, so were clearly
embracing open source. So when Novell acquired SUSE, it was really a coming out
party, and we joined in, too, as a Novell PartnerNet member. Security and system
reliability are mandatory for us in healthcare, so Linux is a great fit. Novell
Linux solutions on top of SUSE LINUX are a powerful combo."
For more information on Novell's partner programs, please visit
http://www.novell.com/partners/.
About Novell
Novell, Inc. (Nasdaq: NOVL) is a leading provider of information
solutions that deliver secure identity management (Novell Nsure), Web
application development (Novell exteNd) and cross-platform networking
services (Novell Nterprise), all supported by strategic consulting and
professional services (Novell Ngage). Active in the open source
community with its Ximian and SUSE LINUX brands, Novell provides a full
range of Linux products and services for the enterprise, from the
desktop to the server. Novell's vision of one Net -- a world
without information boundaries -- helps customers realize the value of
their information securely and economically. For more information, call
Novell's Customer Response Center at (888) 321-4CRC (4272) or visit
http://www.novell.com.
Press should visit http://www.novell.com/pressroom.
Novell and Ximian are registered trademarks; exteNd,
Nsure, Nterprise and Red Carpet Enterprise are trademarks; and Ngage is
a service mark of Novell, Inc. in the United States and other
countries. SUSE is a registered trademark of SUSE LINUX AG. *All
third-party trademarks are the property of their respective
owners.
Press Contact
SUSE LINUX
Media Relations
Jasmin Ul-Haque
Phone: +44-(0)1344-326-966
Mobile: +44-(0)7973-844-468
E-Mail: juh@novell.com
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