VMware inks OEM deal with Novell for SUSE Linux - Register

Novell needs all the help it can get in its seven-year battle to get its SUSE Linux business growing and profitable. The landmark deal with Microsoft that has brought the company $340m in dough for SUSE Linux coupons that Big Bill distributes at Windows shops (475 so far, according to this Microsoft blog ) has clearly run out of gas and Novell has been looking for another partner to help peddle its products. Enter server virtualization juggernaut VMware.

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While Novell is a competitor of sorts with VMware when it comes to server virtualization, pitting its implementations of the Xen and now KVM hypervisors inside of SUSE Linux 11 against VMware's ESX Server stack, Novell has not been afraid to partner with competitors since Ray Noorda left the company and in fact seems to prefer so-called "co-opetition" to cut-throat competition. Just like Citrix Systems, which competes with and partners with Microsoft to the point where it may as well be a division of Microsoft.

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The details of the OEM agreement inked between Novell and VMware were a bit sketchy, and Novell was not making executives available to talk to the press. But what is clear is that operating system providers and hypervisor providers have to partner, regardless of whether or not they compete, because interoperability is important to all customers and everyone wants the finger pointing at the source of the problem when something does go wrong.

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Full Story: VMware inks OEM deal with Novell for SUSE Linux - Register