30 Minute Interview

“OpenSUSE will promote broader adoption of Linux”

David Lenz Director Sales and Marketing Novell Asia Pacific

What is the thinking behind Novell’s PartnerNet programme?

PartnerNet programme will enable unified synergies between the company’s global solutions, its technology and partner relationships. With this, we want to integrate the existing Indian partners into the new partner programme.

Novell will have three mutually reinforcing tracks in its PartnerNet programme, creating a unified, strong ecosystem of partners nationally. Firstly, we are targeting the technology partners (ISVs) who own, develop, distribute and support commercially available applications and hardware that support or integrate with Novell or SUSE Linux technology.

Secondly, we are targeting solution providers, distributors, channel partners, consultants and system integrators who help take Novell or SUSE Linux solutions to market and provide business and technology services to clients.

Finally, we understand the importance of training and accordingly our training partner programme that consists of academic and commercial education specialists will be able to deliver online and classroom training to support Novell technologies and Novell certifications, including SUSE Linux training and certifications.

Red Hat is moving aggressively and building a developer community for Linux. What are Novell’s initiatives in this area?

We are opening SUSE Linux to community-based development, and we will be starting our Linux development efforts with OpenSUSE. The deliverable distribution will be SUSE Linux, while the SUSE Linux Pro line will be rebranded to share the SUSE Linux name.

With this, we are looking deep into our roots and are seen as a public, open-source project. With an open, community-based approach, key SUSE or Ximian or Novell technologies such as Mono, Evolution, Red Carpet, NDS, ZENworks, and Hula [will come] to the fore, allowing even more extensive field testing within the community.

Also, the easier the access is to a project for testing and development the easier it will be for more developers to use and extend it.

For us, the SUSE Linux code will become the foundation for our next version of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, the Linux component of OES (Open Enterprise Server) and NLD (Novell Linux Desktop), while the first version of SUSE Linux will consist of the Linux 2.6-based beta for SLES 10. This will be roughly equivalent to what would have been SUSE Linux Professional 9.5.

The full version will be freely available from the OpenSUSE site as both source code and in ISO download form. The dual approach was chosen because we want SUSE Linux to be worked on by the community and run by users who don’t want to develop but who want a supported, cutting-edge Linux.

The project also opens the development process for SUSE Linux by giving developers in the open source community access to the review, testing and development of the SUSE Linux distribution. We will initially be running the SUSE Linux show, but control will eventually be ceded to a steering board. The expected distribution model is different to that of Red Hat. Unlike their model, which only makes Fedora available as a download and doesn’t offer support for it, we will also sell SUSE Linux in a boxed retail version with manuals and paid technical support.

Will this project address the problem areas of the community in terms of availability of key applications and Linux expertise in organisations?

Yes, they are addressed in this project. Firstly, it opens the development process for SUSE Linux by giving developers in the open source community access to the review, testing and development of the SUSE Linux distribution. Community participation begins this week, with the first beta release of SUSE Linux 10.0. As a result, developers around the world will be able to contribute to future versions. Even IDC reckons that Linux is growing in use both as a desktop and as a server operating environment.

Two impediments the Linux community has been working to overcome are the availability of key applications and increasing levels of Linux expertise in organisations of all sizes. We hope that the OpenSUSE project will make the process of obtaining a working Linux environment easy for end users and developers. The OpenSUSE project is targeted at removing both of these impediments to Linux adoption.

OpenSUSE will promote broader user adoption of Linux, as well as greater transparency in the development and elease of this important Linux distribution. This transparency will lead to greater co-ordination among the Linux community and will aid our efforts in the Linux Standard Base. Through efforts such as this and the Linux Standard Base, the Linux community will continue to deliver reliable, open, and trusted software.

Server migration to Linux has always been difficult. How is Novell tackling this?

This is precisely the reason for launching our Open Enterprise Server which features high performance and improved migration capabilities that simplify moving the enterprise to Linux. One of the things that we had to look at was how to tackle the migration for existing NetWare and Windows users.

We analysed it and with the Open Enterprise Server it is easier for NetWare and Windows customers to move key workgroup services like file and print to Linux, all at once or gradually. If organisations are concerned about TCO we now have the ability to reduce our costs even more by not being locked into one workstation operating system. Further, it lets customers use integrated upgrade and migration utilities to easily and cost effectively select the platform mix that best suits their needs.

What are you doing to improve your chances in the enterprise desktop space?

Rhonda O’Donnell President Novell Asia Pacific

While we are strengthening our foothold in the server space, we are formulating strategies to make a stronger presence in the enterprise desktop space. We are preparing new features and functionalities that will propel Novell Linux Desktop offering in the mass market. Our current offering is targeted not at the mass market but rather at those customers with more contained workloads. But all of that is set to change with the next version of the product, Novell Linux Desktop 10, scheduled for release next year. The next generation of the product will appeal to and meet the needs of the retail market.

The release of SUSE Linux 9.2 brought a lot of innovative mobility features, while 9.3 has a variety of Mono-based applications. Also, there is a new desktop search and metadata technology, code-named Beagle, which indexes content on a user’s hard drive, including Web sites visited and IM (instant messaging) conversations, making the content instantly searchable.

Then there is the Firefox 1.01 Web browser, the Novell Evolution 2.0 groupware client, the 2.6.11 Linux kernel and your choice of a KDE 3.4 or GNOME 2.10 interface. In addition, this distribution will ship with OpenOffice.org 2.0—the latest version of the popular desktop application suite; VoIP (voice over IP) Linphone; and will have iPod compatibility.

We feel that we have all the essential ingredients to succeed in this space.

How would your recent takeover of Onward impact your customers, partners and employees?

Rhonda O’Donnell, President, Novell Asia Pacific: As per our market assessment, we believe that setting up a fully-owned subsidiary will definitely have a positive impact on all our key stakeholders i.e. employees, customers, and partners. By leveraging our Novell development centre we will be able to respond to customer needs from customisation and localisation efforts. Further, the integration of the Indian subsidiary with Novell will help our customers benefit from Novell’s best practices and methodologies from support and consulting perspective. It will help Indian customers address their business challenges by successfully implementing Novell’s solutions and the additional planned investments in the Indian operations would help us further strengthen our support infrastructure.

—Venkatesh Ganesh