"Our value is up the stack from the kernel with services such as identity management, security and systems management that we add on," Novell CEO Jack Messman has said in published remarks.

He was speaking at the company's recent BrainShare event. In his remarks, Messman pointed out that the company's SuSE Linux license revenue, totalling $15 million in the recent quarter, is only part of the overall picture.

Trailing Red Hat badly in this space, Messman points out that his company provides software and services above the basic OS, and believes that the company's strategy of layering services on top of its NetWare/Linux kernel will allow the companhy to prevail as an Open Source market leader over the long term.

As an example, identity management accounted for about one-third of the company's license revenue in the recent quarter, as the company continues an effort it began in 2003 to favor Linux over Microsoft Windows in its strategic direction.