The big news for the Waltham, Massachusetts-based company is that after a year of being announced as the future direction for its NetWare operating system, OES is now generally available.
OES contains NetWare 7.0 and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9.0, as well as common communication, collaboration, and application services, and a common management interface, giving users a choice of file, print, directory and management technologies, and NetWare customers a migration path to Linux.
Pricing for the package starts at $995 for a five-user license, although anyone migrating from a competitive technology will pay just over half that amount. Technologies categorized by Novell as competitive include Microsoft’s Windows NT, 2000, and 2003 operating systems, Red Hat’s Enterprise Linux, SCO Group’s UnixWare, and IBM’s OS/2 Warp Server.
Novell has also released details of ZENworks 7 Linux Management, the latest update to its systems management for the Linux operating system, which was formerly known as Birdman. The new version will provide management for both SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and Red Hat’s Enterprise Linux.
Scheduled for release in the second quarter, ZENworks 7 Linux Management will also feature policy-driven automation enabling administrators to define business processes and policies and then automatically apply them to devices or groups of devices.
The product will include web-based administration for centrally deploying and managing Linux systems via the ZENworks Control Center, as well as remote control via the Virtual Network Computing client.
Meanwhile, Novell is also lining up version 9.3 of its SUSE Linux Professional operating system, providing a look at new features being lined up for inclusion in SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.
These include the Xen open source virtualization technology, and search engine functionality. SUSE Linux 9.3 is scheduled for release in mid-April and will be priced at 77.54 Euros ($103.57). US pricing will be announced in April.
