WALTHAM, Mass., June 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- In recognition
of the 10 year anniversary of Linux* on IBM System z*, Novell today
announced customer adoption, open source product innovation and ISV
and partner support of SUSE® Linux Enterprise Server for IBM*
System z. As the market leader for Linux on System z, Novell is the
only operating system vendor to support Linux on IBM mainframe
servers for its entire 10 year history and continues to capture
market share with new customers and channel partners. Since 2000,
when SUSE Linux Enterprise Server became the first
commercially-available enterprise Linux distribution for IBM System
z mainframes, Novell has delivered Linux-based mainframe solutions
that customers across all industries can deploy to expand their
critical applications and workloads.
"Ten years ago we introduced SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for
System z as the first commercial, enterprise-class, fully-supported
Linux distribution for IBM mainframes," said Markus Rex, senior vice president and general
manager of Open Platform Solutions at Novell. "Over the years our
momentum has only increased and today Novell is the market-leading
Linux platform for System z. We are recognized for our ability to
generate ROI for our customers through the consolidation of
distributed workloads, reduction of downtime and data center
complexity, and increase in operating flexibility."
Customers embrace Linux for System z
Over the past 10 years numerous customers have deployed Linux on
IBM System z mainframe servers. Customers who have achieved success
with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for System z include Bank of
Russia, BlueCross BlueShield of
Minnesota, Boston University, Casas Bahia, Deutsche
Rentenversicherung Baden-Wurttemberg, Dundee City Council, EBS
Building Society, EFiS, Gruppo API, Miami-Dade County, Nationwide Insurance and
University of Arkansas.
"The performance and reliability of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
for System z has been excellent," said Gerard Shockley, IT Manager at Boston University. "We've run multiple workloads in
a production environment for at least four years and have
experienced zero system failures. In my opinion Novell has
delivered an impressive technology set for System z Linux, with the
most complete set of offerings for different types of
workloads."
Adrienne DiPrima, manager of
Strategic Technologies Support for Miami-Dade County in Florida, said, "We're responsible for serving
the needs of millions of citizens. SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for
System z enables us to roll out new services quickly, and provides
us with an extremely scalable, cost-effective and well-supported
operating system."
10 years of product innovation
In early 2000, IBM, based on client demand, expanded use of open
source software and enabled Linux to run on IBM mainframe
computers. With the mainframe's reliability, availability and
serviceability coupled with a suite of robust virtualization
capabilities, customers saw the mainframe as an ideal platform on
which to run multiple Linux servers to make more efficient use of
their computing resources. This combination of Linux on System z is
now an outstanding platform to support cloud computing as well.
Milestones include:
- In 1999, a year before IBM officially supported Linux on the
mainframe, SUSE Linux (acquired by Novell in 2004) began its
collaboration with IBM and Marist
College to move the available Linux code into an
enterprise-ready Linux distribution for mainframes.
- In 2000, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for S/390 became the only
commercial, enterprise-class, fully-supported Linux distribution
for IBM mainframes. That same year, Telia, the largest
telecommunications company in Sweden, became the first large commercial
customer for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for S/390.
- In 2001, SUSE Linux and IBM formalized their technical
partnership and collaboration.
- In 2002, IBM released a 64-bit version of the S/390 mainframe.
SUSE Linux was the first to make a Linux distribution available as
a 64-bit version for this architecture.
- In 2009, Novell released SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 for
System z, delivering cost-effective, mission-critical computing
with support for advanced new System z capabilities.
- Today, IBM and Novell continue to work together to bring new
workloads to the mainframe, such as .NET-based applications running
on Novell's Mono runtime environment on System z.
"Ten years ago when we introduced Linux on IBM System z, clients
used this combination to consolidate hundreds or even thousands of
inefficient smaller systems on to a single, powerful IBM mainframe
that harnessed the power of open source software," said
Carol Stafford, vice president of
IBM System z sales. "Today, Linux on System z offers a powerful
combination used by more than 1,300 clients around the world to run
business critical transaction such as powering global financial
networks. With the help of partners like Novell, we now have more
than 3,150 applications for Linux on System z and are driving new
workloads to the platform including recent customers Korea's Dongbu
Insurance using Linux on the System z to support their core
business and prepare for growth."
Channel partners and ISVs support SUSE Linux Enterprise for
System z
Today of the 3,150 System z Linux applications IBM supports,
more than 1,000 certified third-party commercial applications are
available in Novell's ISV catalog for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
for System z including applications from Chordiant Software, IBM
Cognos, IBM DB2, IBM WebSphere, IBM Tivoli and SAP. When including
open source packages to the number of third-party applications,
customers and partners can run more than 3,000 applications
supported for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for System z. The SUSE
Linux Enterprise for System z ecosystem is also enhanced with
numerous channel partners, including Computacenter, Infinity, MSI
Systems Integrators, Mainline, PROFI AG, Sirius and Vicom Infinity.
"For 10 years, Mainline has provided more than 125 customers on
more than 150 System z systems with Linux-based solutions that
lower costs, increase efficiency and improve productivity, which
goes to show the consistent and continuing demand for SUSE Linux
Enterprise Server for System z in the marketplace," said
Doug Harrell, vice president of
System z at Mainline, an IBM Premier Business Partner and System z
partner.
For more information on SUSE Linux Enterprise for System z,
visit www.novell.com/mainframe.
About Novell
Novell, Inc. (Nasdaq: NOVL), a leader in Intelligent Workload
Management, helps organizations securely deliver and manage
computing services across physical, virtual and cloud computing
environments. We help customers reduce the cost, complexity, and
risk associated with their IT systems through our solutions for
identity and security, systems management, collaboration and
Linux-based operating platforms. With our infrastructure software
and ecosystem of partnerships, Novell integrates mixed IT
environments, allowing people and technology to work as one. For
more information, visit www.novell.com.
Novell and SUSE are registered trademarks of Novell, Inc. in
the United States and other
countries. *All third-party trademarks are the property of
their respective owners.
SOURCE Novell