On November 8, 2007 Novell and Microsoft announced that 30 new customers -- including Costco, Southwest Airlines, and the City of Los Angeles -- will receive from Microsoft certificates for three-year priority support subscriptions for SUSE® Linux Enterprise Server from Novell®. These organizations join the ranks of all other Microsoft and Novell customers that are currently benefiting from the collaboration between the two companies to enable IT interoperability and IP peace of mind in mixed-source environments.

The new customers announced today range from global to local, private to public, and represent a wide range of geographies and industries, including financial, health care, retail, and technology. Examples include Zabka Polska S.A., one of the largest retail chains in Poland – marking the first agreement in that country – and CHRISTUS Health, a large U.S.-based health care provider. The full list is as follows:

Abraxas Informatic AG; Adif Railway; AFG IT Consulting; Arsys; Baker Hughes; BATS Trading; California Department of Technology Services; Cash Converters; CHRISTUS Health; The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; City of Los Angeles; CompuCom Systems; Conductor Tecnologia, S.A.; Costco; Flagstar Bank; iLoop; Leicester City Council; Kent County, Mich.; Mercury Insurance; Pioneer; Riverside County, Calif.; South Carolina Department of Probation, Pardon and Parole; Southwest Airlines; Swiss Post/Information Technology; Synovus; TDC Hosting; T-Systems; Washington Department of Information Services; Westmont College; and Zabka Polska S.A.

"The Novell-Microsoft agreement provides Zabka Polska S.A. an interoperability solution incorporating the essential element of intellectual property assurances," stated Maciej Klaskala,Chief Information Officer, Zabka Polska S.A. "We plan to deploy this solution across the infrastructure supporting various elements of retail supply chain management infrastructure. This will clearly help Zabka focus on our core business of being the most modern and customer oriented network of retail stores throughout Poland. The Novell-Microsoft partnership is a terrific step for us in driving greater innovation across our organization."

"As one of the top 10 Catholic health care systems in the U.S. with over 40 hospitals in our network, we cannot afford downtime. We looked to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server as a key component to our information systems strategy in order to improve overall availability for key infrastructure and mission critical applications, as well as to reduce overall TCO," says George Conklin, CIO for CHRISTUS Health. "The agreement between Novell and Microsoft makes this an even more appealing decision. By taking advantage of the interoperability between our Windows and Linux environments, we're able to significantly streamline the management of our infrastructure."

"Our customers increasingly operate in mixed-source environments, so it is important that we are able to manage Linux and Windows platforms with the same tools. The agreement with Novell and Microsoft has enabled us to deliver services more cost-effectively, better suited to our customers' needs. As a result, we have also experienced increased interest in our services from customers with predominately Linux environments," says Tuomas Levoniemi, Development Manager of Fujitsu Services, Finland. Fujitsu Services is a leading IT services company operating that designs, builds and operates IT systems and services for large scale clients in both the public and private sectors.

"Here at Conductor we have a mixed environment, so we believe that the interoperability provided by the Microsoft-Novell agreement will save us time and reduce our support costs," said Jose Ricardo Ribeiro, Diretor de Infra-Estrutura, Conductor Tecnologia, S.A., Brazil.

"The Novell-Microsoft agreement is a real first step forward in the concept of interoperable standards based computing from our perspective," said David O'Berry, Director of Information Technology Systems and Services. "We expect that the cooperation between these two companies will initially enhance our ability to serve the citizens of South Carolina by certifying the heterogeneous technology stance we have adhered to for over a decade. Beyond that, we expect to eventually see this relationship evolve into a framework for open information sharing that will provide avenues for organizations to explore without fear of repercussions based on non-traditional technology choices. Going forward, the vetting of our technology posture and the fruits of this new relationship between two longtime business partners of our organization will serve to enhance The South Carolina Dept. of Probation, Parole, and Pardon Services ability to continue to focus on driving even greater innovation across our enterprise."

"Implementing the joint offering of Novell and Microsoft will help us manage our heterogeneous IT facilities in an efficient and sound manner," said Ian Abell, Head of Technology Services, Leicester City Council. "As a result, we now have more flexibility and control over our distributed data centers and services. Standardizing on these platforms is helping us streamline our overall infrastructure and reduce costs."

"Interoperability is a critical factor with our multivendor IT environment. The Novell-Microsoft agreement addresses important issues and helps Synovus provide our team members with the resources they need to excel at serving our customers," said Kevin Gowen, Director, Channel Technology, Synovus.

"We're relying on the strengths of both Windows Server and SUSE Linux Enterprise to create an efficient and cost-effective mixed-source environment," said Yoichi Tanaka, General Manager, Information Strategy Group, Corporate Planning Division, Pioneer Corporation. "The interoperability between SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and Windows Server has enabled us to extend our heterogeneous environment with confidence. And with the support and technical services we receive, operating in a truly interoperable environment has never been easier."

"Abraxas Informatik AG highly appreciates the interoperability initiative between Microsoft and Novell," said Frédéric Bösch, Chief Technology Architect, Abraxas Informatik, Switzerland. “Heterogeneous information and communication environments are a day-to- day realty for us and our Abraxas Informatik AG customers. This interoperability initiative will drive down complexity and cost in mixed environments, becoming a benefit for all sides."

"At TDC Hosting, our objective is to deliver a world class service to our customers," said Claus Bo Nielsen, Sales Director, TDC Hosting. “We believe that the Microsoft-Novell collaboration will provide advanced virtualization and systems management technologies that will improve our hosting capacity, whilst being delivered within our existing server strategy and staff skill sets."