Novell Combines NetWare and Linux with Open Enterprise Server

by Alex Woodie

Novell discussed its plan to merge its proprietary NetWare and open source SuSE Linux operating system assets last week at its BrainShare Europe 2004 conference last week in Barcelona, Spain. The vendor announced that the closed private beta for Open Enterprise Server (OES), which will include both NetWare and SuSE Linux kernels and which will target Windows server operating systems for replacement, is nearing an end and that the public beta will start in November.

At the risk of alienating its dwindling, yet still vast, NetWare installed base, Novell has been forced to walk a fine line between supporting its proprietary NetWare past and its future, which is based on SuSE Linux and open source software. The vendor's solution to this dilemma is the upcoming OES operating system, a hybrid of NetWare and SuSE that Novell says will allow NetWare users to make the move to Linux at their own pace--or stay on NetWare for the foreseeable future, if that's their choice.

The dual-OS OSE represents the belief of Jack Messman, Novell's chairman and chief executive, that the future of software development is dependent on neither open source nor closed source. In fact, the future is dependent on "both source," as he put it at the BrainShare conference last week. "With the latest version of NetWare contained in it, Open Enterprise Server includes everything customers have come to love and expect from NetWare, plus full support for Linux and open source Web and application services," Messman said. "Customers can now choose to deploy services on either NetWare or SuSE Linux Enterprise Server or both, even running in a mixed environment with Windows servers."

When OES ships, there will be a full stack of server software that OES customers can deploy on either their NetWare or SuSE Linux environments. This software--the development of which pre-dates Novell's 2003 acquisition of SuSE and which is based on Novell Nterprise Linux Service (NNLS)--will include file and print servers with iFolder, Novell Storage Services (NSS), and iPrint; identity management through eDirectory; high availability with Novell Clustering; a common management and administrative interface with iManager; and common installation and update services through Novell ZENworks.

While it appears that Novell will support NetWare as long as NetWare users need it, the company makes no bones that its future resides in and around the Linux operating system and the broader open source ecosystem. To that end, the company announced the creation of the Novell Porting and Migration Network to help customer and partners make the move to SuSE Linux Enterprise Server. The network, which Novell created with help from its partners, including Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Oracle, and Scali, is a component of Novell's Developer Services and PartnerNet programs, and will provide participants with porting expertise and labs, where they can test how specific systems and network configurations will work in real-world scenarios, including clustering and firewalls.

When Novell bought SuSE 10 months ago for $210 million, company executives said the purchase wasn't about competing with its traditional rival, Microsoft, whose Windows installed base of server users, at around 160 million users, is roughly twice that of NetWare's, and getting bigger, while the NetWare installed base is shrinking. While the SuSE acquisition was also about helping Linux to evolve into a mature enterprise-strength operating system, it has also been about competing with Windows the whole time, and Novell is finally now starting to open up publicly to this obvious fact.

This much is evident from some interesting statistics that Novell has culled from its OES beta testers, which Novell says is the biggest beta in its history. Novell says that, among beta testers planning to implement Linux in the next 18 months, 48 percent are looking to Linux as a replacement for Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003. What's more, Novell says that 33 percent of these beta testers cited stability as their main reason for rolling out Linux, while 30 percent said they want to take advantage of open source software and 25 percent cited cost savings.

Novell originally wanted to ship OES by the end of the year, but that doesn't look like it will happen. At the show last week, Novell said that the public beta test for OES will begin in early November. General availability and pricing information will be announced later, the company says.