MS, Novell bridge the gap

By Siyabonga Africa for Microsoft
Johannesburg, 16 Mar 2009

Microsoft and Novell have landed their first major interoperability client.

The deal with Pam Golding Properties is worth an undisclosed amount. It will see the companies provide the real estate agency with a collaborative solution to manage two sets of servers and platforms from a central point.

The IT companies are two-and-a-half years into a global five-year collaboration agreement, which seeks to bridge the gap between proprietary and open source software.

Microsoft and Novell have jointly been developing new products through their interoperability lab which was opened in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in December 2007. Novell says the lab is focused on making the Windows server and SUSE Linux enterprise work better together.

A Microsoft SA statement says the global initiative has signed on more than 250 customers worldwide, with 125 from the EMEA region. Around 18 of the EMEA clients are based in SA. Microsoft SA platform strategy manager Paulo Ferreira says they have sold more than 80% of their five-year certificate inventory in the last two years.

Ferreira says market research has shown 70% of enterprises run a mix of the two major operating systems in the market: Windows and Linux. He adds these heterogeneous environments have created a need for interoperability in the office.

“We're looking to really answer what customers want, which is to have the freedom and flexibility to choose the best solution for their needs and to have all those solutions work well together. Customers don't want to have to deal with issues of interoperability. They want their vendors to come together and solve their problems,” he says in a statement.

“And it was with that thought in mind that both Microsoft and Novell signed the agreement two years ago to develop interoperable solutions together.”

Future collaborations

Virtualisation is another key area in which Microsoft and Novell are collaborating, and the companies are set to develop a number of virtualisation technologies.

Microsoft says the technologies will allow applications to be run across multiple servers, or multiple applications to run on a single server, increasing flexibility and efficiency.

“Virtualisation is a great enabler of heterogeneous systems and applications to be able to run in these virtual environments, and with that comes the need, once again, for interoperability and integration in the enterprise,” says Ferreira.

Both Ferreira and Novell SA MD Michelle Beetar are adamant the deal signed by the companies will be a standard for vendors in the near future.

“People are asking us whether this collaboration will be good for the market. I believe it will help the industry by increasing competitiveness among vendors, because you are giving customers a choice of products and they are not stuck in a rut with only one operating system for them to use,” explains Beetar.