IBM, Novell Plot More SUSE Linux Moves
First, a little background: Both sides of the IBM-Novell relationship have new managers in place. Back around January 2010...
When it comes to hardware and software, IBM and Novell have a longstanding SUSE Linux business relationship. So where are the two companies heading next together? Novell and IBM provided some clues during last week’s Novell BrainShare conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. Here are the details.
First, a little background: Both sides of the IBM-Novell relationship have new managers in place. Back around January 2010…
- IBM moved Jean Staten Healy into a key position dubbed director, worldwide Linux.
- Novell moved Joe Wagner into an equally strategic position dubbed senior VP and general manager, global alliances.
So how do Healy and Wagner intend to ensure a healthy, ongoing relationship between IBM and Novell? Lots of answers surfaced at BrainShare.
Of Novell’s major hardware partners, it’s somewhat safe to say IBM had the largest BrainShare presence — running multiple workshops and sessions at the conference.
Admittedly, the IBM mainframe sessions were beyond the scope of some smaller VARs. But there also was a heavy emphasis on IBM software for SUSE Linux. IBM’s Healy was quick to note that IBM’s major software portfolio items — from Lotus to Tivoli, DB2 and WebSphere, among others — run on WebSphere SUSE Linux.
Also, IBM has started to use Novell’s SUSE Linux appliance strategy — which helps ISVs and resellers to speed software development and deployment.
Will IBM offer all of its software as Novell SUSE appliances? Healy says the answer is based purely on customer demand.
The VAR Guy’s bet: Based on recent momentum, watch for more and more IBM applications to be available as SUSE Linux appliances.
Red Hat Summit
Of course, IBM wants to avoid a repeat of the Windows monopoly. For the age of Linux, Big Blue continues to hedge its bets on multiple fronts — supporting Novell, Red Hat and even Canonical’s Ubuntu in some cases.
Looking ahead to Red Hat Summit 2010 (June 22-25, Boston), it’s no surprise to The VAR Guy that IBM is listed as the conference’s top sponsor.
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Okay, enough with the Novell stories. These guys are as dead and boring as anything in tech right now. As a regular reader of your site I encourage you to spend more time on the exciting areas – Apple and device technologies being used as enterprise computing devices, Google doing more in desktop apps, Amazon and cloud moves. Even mature companies like BMC, Sybase and Adobe are doing more interesting and influential things than Novell has a chance to do. And Microsoft with Azure is doing some very interesting stuff. And hecjk as boring as IBM’s cloud announcements have been, I would rather read about them than crud on Novell.
A software appliance model is not a strategy that gets these guys out of their 50-mile deep hole. Ask VMWare how productive their 3+ year effort has been on getting the software appliance market stimulated. Also, for that matter if it was so interesting then Microsoft, Red Hat, and even Solaris guys would have big aggressive appliance strategies – companies that ISVs actually care about.
Acknowledge, move forward is my advice
Bill: The VAR Guy appreciates your constructive criticism. Our resident blogger won’t go silent on Novell. But yes, you can expect more coverage on a few of the topics you raised — particularly Windows Azure.
Our resident blogger is feeling a bit bruised… but welcomes the feedback. Always.
-TVG
No way VAR guy. Bill obviously hasn’t read any of your articles yet is very quick to judge. Please continue to offer unbiased commentry on all vendors, including emergerging technologies from Novell.
Aaron: Don’t panic. The VAR Guy saw 2,500 reasons to continue Novell coverage during BrainShare last week. Though smaller than previous BrainShare conferences, last week’s edition attracted 2,500 customers and channel partners. A pretty good figure, considering the economy and Novell’s transition to emerging opportunities like Intelligent Workload Management.