Virtualization
The data center of the future will have both Linux and Windows. Companies that are able to make them work together better by running bidirectional virtualization will be able to reduce complexity and costs. Companies that don’t, won’t.
That’s why Microsoft and Novell are collaborating: to deliver powerful, new cross-platform virtualization solutions that will allow SUSE Linux Enterprise Server to run as an enlightened guest on Windows Server 2008 and allow Windows Server 2008 to run as an paravirtualized guest on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server; and to provide joint customer support for companies that run this virtualization solution.
In our joint Interoperability Lab, technical experts from both companies are working side by side to test and enhance our joint virtualization solutions.
Standards-Based Systems Management
Giving customers the ability to manage their mixed-IT environment of both physical and virtual systems with a common tools is one of our top priorities. Novell and Microsoft are working together to develop standards-based systems management solutions.
We are developing an open source implementation of the WS-MAN specification. When our work is complete, you will be able to use Microsoft System Center and Novell ZENworks to manage both Windows and Linux environments.
All so your infrastructure can keep up with changes your business demands, providing you with a flexible and cost-effective way to manage a mixed-IT environment.
Identity Management
One of the key issues facing companies today is how to effectively manage rights to information for their employees, partners, and customers across disparate resources in a mixed environment.
To address this challenge, the staff of our joint Interoperability Lab is developing technologies that facilitate interoperability between Microsoft Active Directory and Novell's eDirectory. In addition, Novell Access Manager will support the WS-Federation protocol. The resulting solution will give you the ability to utilize a common authentication method against Windows and non-Windows environments.
Document Format Compatibility
If users run into compatibility issues when sharing their documents, important business transactions can grind to a halt. Microsoft, Novell and the open source community are collaborating to ensure smooth interoperability between office productivity applications. Together, we will create a bidirectional “translator” for word processing documents, spreadsheets and presentation files between the OpenDocument format (ODF), which is supported by OpenOffice.org, and OpenXML, the next generation file format for Microsoft Office. The Open XML/ODF Translator for word processing is already available, and we are working hard to extend similar interoperability to spreadsheets and presentations.
