NEC and Novell Deliver High-Availability Solution Optimized for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server

December 15, 2010


Tokyo Japan

TOKYO — Dec. 15, 2010 — NEC and Novell today announced the immediate availability of a high-availability and disaster recovery solution optimized for SUSE® Linux Enterprise Server. Designed to enhance availability and serviceability in mixed operating system and hypervisor environments, NEC EXPRESSCLUSTER X 3.0 is now certified for and supported on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11. First available in Japan, this new solution represents an expansion of the partnership between NEC and Novell to deliver mission-critical services to joint customers worldwide. As a result, it is now easier for IT organizations to ensure business continuity for environments containing both Linux* and Windows* workloads.

Customers can now use EXPRESSCLUSTER and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server to implement highly available business continuity solutions in mission-critical heterogeneous IT environments utilizing physical, virtual and cloud-based resources. EXPRESSCLUSTER also simplifies the customer's environment by supporting the configuration and management of mixed Linux and Windows cluster environments from a single console.

Backed by more than 10 years of proven innovation in mission-critical system protection and recovery, EXPRESSCLUSTER is an integrated high availability and disaster recovery software product from NEC that offers functionality and reliability designed to ensure continuity of business-critical systems. Recovery of both applications and data are provided within minutes. EXPRESSCLUSTER supports a wide range of operating systems, including SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and Windows, and with early entry into the Linux market it has achieved a large installed base that represents the top share in the Availability and Clustering Software market in Asia Pacific in 2009 (*1).

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server is a highly-reliable, scalable and secure server operating system built to power both physical and virtual mission-critical workloads. With this foundation, enterprises can deliver business services, enable secure networks and manage heterogeneous IT resources. Used by two-thirds of the 2010 Fortune Global 100, SUSE Linux Enterprise is the only Linux distribution recommended by Microsoft, recommended by SAP AG for running SAP® solutions on Linux, and is distributed and supported by VMware.

NEC and Novell share a common vision of supporting customers' heterogeneous operating system and hypervisor environments. As a result of server consolidation and cloud computing adoption, organizations are demanding more dynamic, flexible and comprehensive infrastructure solutions for business continuity, which NEC and Novell are well positioned to provide. The two companies are working jointly to meet new market needs and to design, deliver, service and support optimized solutions for users worldwide.

"In recent years, due to Cloud computing and server virtualization, the system environment has been changing. These changes have resulted in complicated IT systems and increased the risk of business discontinuance," said Harumi Ikeda, vice president and executive general manager of the IT Software Operations Unit, NEC Corporation. "NEC and Novell are overcoming these issues by providing a reliable and available mission critical system platform through the combination of EXPRESSCLUSTER and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server."

Holger Dyroff, vice president, Business Development, Open Platform Solutions at Novell, said, "Interoperability and mission-critical computing are two strengths SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and NEC's EXPRESSCLUSTER X 3.0 share. The combination of both offerings allows customers to deliver highly available services across Linux and Windows environments and multiple hypervisors, including SUSE Linux Enterprise Server with Xen from Novell."

About NEC Corporation

NEC Corporation is a leader in the integration of IT and network technologies that benefit businesses and people around the world. By providing a combination of products and solutions that cross utilize the company's experience and global resources, NEC's advanced technologies meet the complex and ever-changing needs of its customers. NEC brings more than 100 years of expertise in technological innovation to empower people, businesses and society. For more information, visit NEC at http://www.nec.com.

For more EXPRESSCLUSTER information
: http://www.nec.com/expresscluster
: http://www.nec.com/global/prod/expresscluster/solution/suse/index.html

About Novell

Novell, Inc. (Nasdaq: NOVL), a leader in Intelligent Workload Management, helps organizations securely deliver and manage computing services across physical, virtual and cloud computing environments. We help customers reduce the cost, complexity, and risk associated with their IT systems through our solutions for identity and security, systems management, collaboration and Linux based operating platforms. With our infrastructure software and ecosystem of partnerships, Novell 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.

*1:
-Asia/Pacific (Excluding Japan) Availability and Clustering Software 2010-2014 Forecast (AP2670310S) - IDC Asia /Pacific, March 2010
-Japan System Software 2010-2014 Forecast and 2009 Analysis (J10450103) - IDC Japan, May 2010