SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED) 10 is finally here, and so begins Novell's effort to get it onto as many business computers as possible. This event also comes shortly after the departure of Jack Messman as CEO, an event which has dramatically changed Novell's business strategy, especially as it relates to its SUSE Linux products. To find out more about SLED, its cousin SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES), and the company's plans for the future, I got in touch with senior Novell executive John Dragoon. Questions and answers are below.

What company is the single biggest threat to SUSE Linux Enterprise adoption? What is Novell doing to erode that threat?

We prefer to look at the market in terms of opportunity We don't view any company as the single biggest threat to SUSE Linux Enterprise adoption. We have multiple competitors in the market -- Microsoft, Red Hat, Sun, just to name a few. We're very early in a 15 to 20 year operating systems lifecycle and I believe Novell is uniquely position to drive and realize a lot of the opportunity. Specifically, our Linux offerings are addressing the enterprise wide needs for a vertically integrated Linux offering. By that I mean the same code base (and skill requirements) for Linux server, desktop, data center, real time, point of service, etc deployments - all of which Novell offers. While our competitors (Linux specifically) offer some of these capabilities, none offer the enterprise breadth and depth we do with the global ecosystem and support behind it.

On the server side, Linux now truly offers UNIX-equivalent functionality. SUSE Linux Enterprise scales to 1024 CPUs and 10TB of memory and can handle those mission-critical enterprise workloads, like Oracle or SAP, that historically ran on big UNIX boxes. With SUSE Linux Enterprise, organizations can reduce nearly 50% of their infrastructure costs for these applications by choosing Linux over UNIX. When you add in new technologies like Xen virtualization and AppArmor application security -- both of which are available exclusively from SUSE Linux Enterprise right now -- the story becomes even more compelling, as organizations can consolidate workloads, reduce server sprawl, and then lock down those applications against intruders.

On the desktop side, SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop is the first true alternative to Microsoft Windows. I'm a realist -- I know that Windows dominates the desktop market. But the coming introduction of Windows Vista has re-opened the buying decision for many Microsoft customers - a decision that will involve a migration not a simple upgrade. They're questioning whether they need a fully-loaded desktop with expensive new hardware for every single worker in their organization. With the innovations we've delivered in usability in SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop -- such as the multiple desktop environments and integrated real-time desktop search -- and the innovations we've made in the OpenOffice productivity suite -- including the ability to run Visual Basic macros -- customers now can seriously evaluate another desktop choice for their enterprise. To help them introduce Linux into their desktop environment, we've made SLED completely interoperable with Active Directory through our unique deployment of SAMBA. That means you can just drop a Linux desktop right into your existing infrastructure and hit the ground running. By the way, all of this available at 1/10 the list price of Microsoft's OS and Office Suite.

So in a nutshell, we're addressing the opportunity by offering a compelling enterprise wide Linux offering that offers unprecedented innovation and a great value.

When Red Hat switched its business model to focus on "enterprise" products, it dropped its consumer desktop product in favor of a community-supported software distribution. Is openSUSE going to become Novell's Fedora Core? If so, what measures are going to be taken to prevent openSUSE's quality from diminishing in the absence of standardized corporate quality assurance procedures?

openSUSE is our open source development project. It's how we collaborate with the open source community to develop the next innovations that you'll see in the enterprise product line. One thing that's consistent across all Novell products is our high code quality. We'll continue to work with the openSUSE community to ensure that high code quality, because much of that code eventually finds its way into the enterprise distribution. One example of this is our openSUSE Build Service. This service enables openSUSE developers to compile their code across all the major hardware architectures at the same time. In other words, I can write for x86 and compile on x86, Itanium, and zSeries. This tool is a developer's best friend -- it saves hours of time and enables you to find bugs more quickly and fix them. The openSUSE Build Service uses the same technology as our AutoBuild service that compiles our SUSE Linux Enterprise platform. So that's an example of how we are sharing our enterprise technology with the open source world to ensure quality.

Will Novell offer SLED 10 to home users, or will it be strictly a corporate product?

Right now, we are targeting SLED10 at the transactional, scientific, fixed function and general knowledge workers of the corporate, government and education markets. We are considering a consumer version of SLED, but we have not made any final plans yet. That said, SLED is available to all who want to use or pilot it in their enterprises or home. One can research SLED on www.novell.com/linux and buy the product direct from the Web site for $50.

What does SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 offer that no other GNU/Linux distribution -- such as Mandriva Corporate Server and Red Hat Enterprise Linux -- has?

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 enables businesses to deliver mission-critical IT services-with enhanced security and reduced costs-while improving data center reliability and performance. SLES10 is the first enterprise Linux solution to integrate Xen virtualization into the distribution, so that organizations can consolidate applications and reduce server sprawl. Only SUSE Linux Enterprise Server includes Novell AppArmor, an application-level security solution. AppArmor protects the operating system and its applications from the harmful side effects of attacks, malicious applications and viruses. So whether an attack originates internally or externally, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 ensures server integrity, reduces administration costs and prevents downtime-related business losses. Only SLES 10 comes with Novell's global reputation for service and support.

Finally, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server is an enterprise-quality server designed to handle mission-critical workloads in the data center. We've designed SLES so that you can deploy it as a general-purpose server or you can tailor it to run a variety of specialized workloads, and the entire solution offers seamless interoperability with your existing data center infrastructure. We're particularly proud of our joint development with SAP and Oracle. Included in SLES are specific installation options that optimize SLES to run either Oracle or SAP. So when you install SLES, you just click "yes, I want an SAP server" or "yes, I want an Oracle server," and the software installs only those packages you need to run Oracle or SAP.

What's the question I'm not smart enough to ask about SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and Desktop 10?

What is the SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 platform?

SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 is the Platform for the Open Enterprise. We've built SUSE Linux Enterprise to be the best-engineered, lowest-cost and most interoperable platform for enterprise computing. From the desktop to the data center, only SUSE Linux Enterprise offers a complete open source platform for the mission-critical applications that drive your business -- whether that's office productivity on your desktop or SAP in your data center.

Novell is the only Linux vendor to offer a complete enterprise-wide Linux solution. With the SUSE Linux Enterprise platform, we have solutions that can deployed in a variety of workloads -- from thin client, to general office worker desktops, to file & print, to e-mail kiosks, to web servers, to ERP & SCM applications. No other Linux vendor offers the breadth and depth of solutions that Novell offers. And we back it all up with enterprise-caliber tech support, consulting, and training.

Novell is an innovator in the Linux market, and SUSE Linux Enterprise proves it. Look at what we've brought to market -- six months ahead of the competition. Integrated virtualization. Tighter security. Intuitive management tools. New and exciting graphic innovations on the desktop. Microsoft Visual Basic macros running natively on Linux. A new hardware device driver update. Those are just a few of the innovations that SUSE Linux Enterprise brings, and it's why we think the customer will choose Novell as a partner.

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Copyright 2006 Jem Matzan.