"This initiative marks another important step in building out a global ecosystem around SUSE LINUX," said Hal Bennett, Novell's vice president of global alliances, as Novell and IBM yesterday announced an initiative to help ISVs accelerate the development and certification of new applications for Novell's SUSE LINUX on IBM eServer and middleware platforms.

ISVs can now access the technical resources, hands-on tools and expertise available at nine IBM Innovation Centers in North America, Europe and Asia to certify their applications for SUSE LINUX on IBM hardware and software. As a result, ISVs can port new applications to SUSE LINUX more quickly and cost effectively, creating new technology infrastructure choices for customers running Linux-based applications.

Linux is the fastest growing operating system in the server space, rapidly gaining acceptance among mainstream business users, software vendors and the OEM community.

"Over the past few years, Linux has transformed from a niche operating system to a mainstream solution that customers are increasingly deploying in their existing IT environments," said Wood Lotz, CEO, Absoft Corporation. "SUSE LINUX ISV certification program is an important milestone in the long-term success of open source solutions and represents an opportunity for us and our customers to utilize the very best hardware, software, and support from IBM and Novell in an expedient way to take advantage of the growing Linux market. Gaining access to the technical resources and knowledge of experts at IBM Innovation Centers to test mission-critical applications on Linux further gives solution providers the confidence they need to deploy Linux strategically in complex customer environments," said Lotz.

As part of this initiative, Novell will provide ISVs copies of SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server with supporting documentation. The company will also facilitate onsite registration for Novell's Technology Partner Program to help ISVs certify their applications on SUSE LINUX on IBM hardware and middleware. At the IBM Innovation Centers, IBM will offer ISVs consulting support and technical expertise to help them migrate, develop and implement their applications for SUSE LINUX on IBM platforms.

The technical services and support are available to ISVs at the IBM Innovation Centers in San Mateo, CA, Waltham, MA., Chicago, IL., Hursley, United Kingdom, Paris, France, Stuttgart, Germany, Bangalore, India, Shanghai, China, and Sydney, Australia. IBM's network of Innovation Centers worldwide provide developers and business partners with easy access to technical skills, resources, and business expertise to help them more easily build, deploy and optimize customized solutions based on IBM's open middleware and hardware technology. As a result, business partners can go to market faster, while reducing development costs.

"Applications vendors from Silicon Valley to Stuttgart to Sydney will now have local resources to help them test and certify their application on SUSE LINUX on IBM platforms, enabling them to provide more value for their customers in this rapidly growing market," said Novell's Bennett.

"The momentum behind Linux is growing daily," added IBM's Buell Duncan, general manager of ISV and Developer Relations. "To date, more than 6,000 Linux-based applications have been developed on IBM, 2,000 of which come from ISVs. IBM has a goal to double that number in the next two years. This initiative will help ISVs test and certify their applications at IBM Innovation Centers for SUSE LINUX on IBM platforms, expanding customer choice to deploy Linux-based applications in their existing environments."