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"Customer interest and uptake has far exceeded our expectations," saidSusan Heystee, general manager for global strategic alliances at Novell. "Thiscontinued momentum from our strategic relationship with Microsoft is thecatalyst driving the innovative solutions and technologies our two companiesare announcing today. We're seeing especially strong demand in the datacenter,where a mixed-source environment is increasingly the norm and where ourdelivery of true interoperability is compelling."

In the second year of their business collaboration agreement, Microsoftand Novell have added more than 200 new joint customers, including AlticorInc., BP Oil International Ltd. and China Mobile Ltd., which are receivingcertificates from Microsoft for three-year priority support subscriptions forNovell's SUSE Linux Enterprise Server. When the five-year agreement was signedin November 2006, Microsoft purchased certificates to sell to customers, whichthen redeemed those certificates with Novell for a subscription to SUSE LinuxEnterprise. In the first two years of the agreement, Novell has invoiced morethan 70 percent of the original certificate purchase.

"The interoperability and IP peace of mind that our agreement provides isclearly resonating with customers," said Susan Hauser, general manager ofstrategic partnerships and licensing at Microsoft. "After two highlysuccessful years, we've demonstrated that our business model works, and wewill continue collaborating to provide innovative solutions for our customers.And with our sale of certificates for Novell's new Expanded Support program,even more customers, including those running Red Hat Enterprise Linux, will beable to access the benefits of our relationship with Novell."

As part of today's announcement, Microsoft and Novell are revealing thedetails of two new offerings resulting from the joint technical collaboration.Novell is announcing the general availability release of its AdvancedManagement Pack for SUSE Linux Enterprise for Microsoft System CenterOperations Manager 2007 R2, available in the first half of 2009. A technicalpreview of the Advanced Management Pack was shown earlier this month at theTech*Ed EMEA IT Professionals 2008 conference in Barcelona, Spain. The timingof the Advanced Management Pack coincides with the release of Microsoft SystemCenter Operations Manager 2007 R2, also slated for release in the first halfof 2009. Microsoft and Novell's collaborative work in systems management aimsto ease customers' management of mixed IT environments.

The Advanced Management Pack for SUSE Linux Enterprise for MicrosoftSystem Center Operations Manager 2007 R2 extends the cross-platform Linuxmonitoring capability of Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2and enables the assessment and management of Windows- and Linux-based serversfrom a single, unified console, eliminating the costs and complexities ofhaving multiple management consoles. It also reduces training costs andoptimizes staff resources, because individuals need to be trained on only onemanagement tool. In addition, one team can manage both Windows and Linuxenvironments.

The other new initiative the companies are announcing is the upcoming betaavailability of Moonlight, an open source implementation of MicrosoftSilverlight that provides Linux-based users with the same rich,high-definition media capabilities currently available for the Windows andApple environments. Moonlight will be provided as an open source plug-in forthe Firefox Web browser.

In the two years since signing their original business and technicalcollaboration agreement, Novell and Microsoft have continued to makesignificant investments in their relationship. Novell's Expanded Supportprogram includes a three-year subscription to SUSE Linux Enterprise Serverthat also allows customers to transition to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server overa two-year period while receiving technical support for their existing Linuxdeployments. Based on its strong relationship with Novell, which is built on acommitment to meeting customer demand, Microsoft is supporting the new programthrough the sale of certificates for Novell technical support. As a result,even more customers will be able to access the benefits of interoperabilityand IP peace of mind provided through the Microsoft and Novell relationship.

Reseller distributors for the two companies are quick to point out theadvantages of the Microsoft and Novell business model.

"The cooperation between Microsoft and Novell to deliver expanded supportfor SUSE Linux Enterprise users is a breath of fresh air," said JoeSzalkiewicz, western region vice president for The Pinnacle Group. "Theability to transition from other Linux deployments, including Red Hat, whileredeeming subscription certificates purchased from Microsoft for Novell'sExpanded Support, is remarkable -- something you can't get anywhere else. Thisis exactly what our customers have told us they are looking for to help makethe transition from other forms of Linux to Novell SUSE Linux EnterpriseServer."

Independent Television PLC (ITV), a public service network of Britishcommercial television broadcasters, also was quick to express support for thenew offering.

"At ITV we are increasingly standardizing on both Microsoft Windows Serverand SUSE Linux Enterprise Server as the key components of our enterpriseserver strategy," said Nick Leake, director of operations and infrastructurefor ITV. "We did not want to get into a situation where we had a huge varietyof different Linux distributions installed as we wanted to minimize our Linuxoperational risks and costs by standardizing on just one widely supporteddistribution. The Microsoft and Novell partnership agreement means we can nowconcentrate on Microsoft Windows Server and SUSE Linux Enterprise Serveracross our enterprise and have greater assurance that these platforms will beoptimized to interoperate with each other, particularly in respect ofvirtualization. The additional intellectual property warranties provided bythe agreement are a bonus and contribute to the effective positioning of SUSELinux Enterprise Server as an enterprise-class Linux distribution. The recentextension of the agreement shows this was not a one-off transaction but ispart of a longer-term arrangement between both Microsoft and Novell. Long mayit continue, as it is setting the new benchmark in the technology industrythat other suppliers must now work to meet."

More information about the Microsoft and Novell agreement can be found athttp://www.moreinterop.com.

About Novell

Novell, Inc. (Nasdaq: NOVL) delivers the best engineered, mostinteroperable Linux platform and a portfolio of integrated IT managementsoftware that helps customers around the world reduce cost, complexity andrisk. With our infrastructure software and ecosystem of partnerships, Novellharmoniously integrates mixed IT environments, allowing people and technologyto work as one. For more information, visit http://www.novell.com.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is the worldwide leader insoftware, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize theirfull potential.

Novell and SUSE are registered trademarks of Novell Inc. in the U.S. andother countries. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. The namesof actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks oftheir respective owners.

SOURCE Microsoft Corp.