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Dell Inc. and Novell Inc. announced Wednesday an agreement between the two companies to distribute Novells SuSE Linux distribution preinstalled on single- and dual-processor Dell PowerEdge servers.
Novell SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 is available for order now and will begin shipping in December, according Linda York, vice president of global alliances marketing in Dells Product Group. Dells services unit will also provide support for Novell SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9, through a collaborative support agreement with Novell—giving Dells server customers a single point of contact for all technical issues.
The agreement is an expansion of the existing relationship between the companies. “We are the No. 1 NetWare distributor and have been for 14 consecutive quarters,” York told eWEEK.com. “And we have been working with SuSE in Germany.” Dell sees Novells loyal NetWare customers and the European market (where SuSE is strongest) as the biggest growth opportunities for the companys Linux sales.
Separately, Novell moved to reassure desktop SuSE customers that the company will continue to support them as the company moves toward the release of its upcoming Novell Linux Desktop.
Dell, which claims to have a 27 percent market share in Linux servers, will continue to provide Red Hat Inc.s Linux distributions as well. York said that Wednesdays announcement has no impact on the companys relationship with Red Hat. However, the new SuSE bundling will give Dell a lower price point for Linux systems; the operating system comes list-priced at $175 for a single CPU and $275 for a dual-processor system. “The Red Hat offering for both one and two CPUs is $349,” said York.