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FLASH - Novell buys SuSE
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Comments- Novell will be the only $1 billion software company with a Linux distribution and the worldwide technical staff to support it
- Novell/SUSE LINUX to become the world's largest supplier of desktop-to-server Linux solutions and technical support
- Customers to gain worldwide technical support for enterprise Linux solutions from a company with more than 20 years of operating system experience IBM and Novell to negotiate extensions to commercial agreement with Novell/SUSE LINUX to support the IBM eServer line
With the open source expertise of SUSE LINUX and Novell's world-class networking and identity solutions and support, training and consulting services, Novell will be able to deliver Linux and all its components -- from the server to the desktop and give organizations a secure, reliable and mature Linux foundation. Novell will pay $210 million in cash to complete the acquisition. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and the winding up of shareholder agreements. Novell expects the transaction to close by the end of its first fiscal quarter (January 2004).
This latest move follows Novell's August purchase of Ximian, a leader in Linux server and desktop solutions, and further demonstrates Novell's ongoing commitment to provide customers a full range of Linux solutions. Both the Ximian and SUSE LINUX acquisitions affirm Novell's commitment to promoting the open source model and developer community.
Novell today also announced that IBM intends to make a $50 million investment in Novell convertible preferred stock. In addition, Novell and IBM are negotiating extensions to the current commercial agreements between IBM and SUSE LINUX for the continued support of SUSE LINUX on IBM's eServer products and middleware products to provide for product and marketing support arrangements related to SUSE LINUX. Both of these agreements will be effective when the acquisition of SUSE LINUX by Novell is completed.
"Responding to customer demands for open, standards-based computing, Novell has been dedicated to a cross-platform vision for four years now, and Linux is an increasingly important part of that strategy," said Jack Messman, chairman and CEO of Novell. "The acquisition of SUSE LINUX will complete Novell's ability to offer enterprise-class Linux solutions to our customers from the desktop to the server. No other enterprise Linux vendor has the operating system experience and the worldwide technical support capabilities that Novell will be able to deliver. Novell is bringing our significant resources to bear to help customers adopt Linux with more confidence, giving them the freedom of choice Linux provides without the anxiety over whether an open source solution can truly be relied on for mission-critical functions."
"Novell understands the power of open, standards-based computing, and has been moving in that direction for some time," said Richard Seibt, CEO of SUSE LINUX. Novell's global reach, marketing expertise and reputation for security, reliability and global enterprise-level support are exactly what we've been seeking to take SUSE LINUX to the next level. We've also been impressed by the incredible loyalty and competence of Novell customers and business partners, and we're looking forward to joining forces to help customers gain the benefits of Linux and to help Novell continue to expand its role in the open source community."
SUSE LINUX Offerings Complement Novell Linux Services
SUSE LINUX offers a range of Linux server and desktop solutions designed to meet the diversified needs of different organizations. SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 8 for midsize to large companies provides a range of core networking services with the high-availability and scalability features needed for mission-critical environments.
SUSE LINUX is the leading enterprise Linux company in Europe. In addition, through its relationships with Conectiva and Turbolinux, SUSE LINUX has been a leader in Latin America and Asia, as well. SUSE LINUX is also one of the top providers of Linux to enterprises in the United States and North America. Novell's extensive global sales and channel programs, proven and reliable technical support capabilities, as well as ongoing Novell and SUSE LINUX relationships with key partners like IBM, Oracle, SGI, Fujitsu-Siemens, Dell, Intel, AMD, SAP, HP and others, provide a powerful business network to promote more rapid Linux adoption around the globe.
Novell's Linux Strategy
The acquisition of SUSE LINUX will be an important step in Novell's efforts to accelerate enterprise adoption of Linux. Novell began building solutions for Linux in early 2000, when it made its flagship eDirectory technology available on Linux. In April of this year, Novell announced it would make all the services that run on its NetWareŽ operating system run on both the NetWare and Linux kernels in the future with the full range of Novell's worldwide technical support. In August, Novell acquired Ximian with its leading Linux desktop management solutions and its visionary leadership to promote Linux desktops and to enable Microsoft .NET* applications to run on Linux.
In September, Novell announced the open beta of NovellŽ Nterprise Linux Services (NLS), an offering that runs on SUSE LINUX and Red Hat* and provides a variety of networking services for Linux environments. IBM, HP and Dell have all licensed the NLS technology for resale to their customers. With SUSE LINUX, Novell expands its reach to developers and ISVs looking for a complete Linux solution. Today\x{2019}s announcement of Novell's plans to acquire SUSE LINUX strengthens Novell's already proven set of Linux offerings by allowing Novell to distribute the underlying Linux platform itself, in addition to the many value-added services for Linux that Novell already offers.
"We chose SUSE LINUX because they are a clear market leader in Linux technology for the enterprise," Messman said. "With this acquisition, Novell will be the only billion-dollar software company with a Linux distribution and a worldwide ecosystem around it. A worldwide technical staff of more than 600 has been trained to support Linux. The acquisition of SUSE LINUX completes our technology stack from the desktop to the server."
Beyond the technology, the acquisition will also expand Novell's strategic commitment to the open source community. The combination of SUSE LINUX and Novell will deliver not only complete enterprise Linux software solutions, but also worldwide channels and industry-leading partnerships. The combined company will help promote a thriving, global open source ecosystem that creates innovation and choice for developers, users and organizations alike. Novell is firmly committed to open standards and maintaining the existing open source kernel development efforts. From advocacy and development resources to events and support of open source efforts like kernel projects, XFree86, ReiserFS, KDE, GNOME and Mono, Novell stands side-by-side with the open source community.
Citigroup Global Markets Inc. acted as Novell's financial adviser to the transaction. Clifford Chance Punder served as Novell's legal counsel. Arma Partners acted as financial adviser to SUSE LINUX and its stockholders. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer served as legal counsel to SUSE LINUX and its stockholders. SUSE LINUX investors are e-Millenium 1, AdAstra Erste Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH and APAX Partners & CO.
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Ought to be an interesting news day...
Then if IBM also buys google things might really get nasty...
This IBM big brother relationship is interesting - it's like they're blessing the acquisition, putting their weight behind it. Otherwise there would be real danger that, for example, a bunch of key engineers and managers might leave SuSE to start a new distro and everyone would say that Novell bought air.
I'm thinking along the lines do THEY (i.e. Novell) have the right to "theoretically" put sys V code and the likes originally their property into Linux...
And would such a move could puncture SCO's ongoing case and limit the case to a very specific timespan... no moneymachine for SCO no more or???
One could possible go as far as imagining Novell publishing the entire source base for whatever Novell has the rights to at this point - If they have any such rights...
- Thoughts on this anyone?
The views and thoughts in this post are the posters own and do not necessarily represent the views of the organization to which the poster is affiliated.
- Robin
for using Linux ?
Inquiring minds want to know....
W in B-More Town....
... at Seller's sole discretion and direction, Buyer shall amend, supplement, modify, or waive, any rights under, or shall assign any rights to, any SVRX License to the extent so directed in any manner or respect by Seller.<nobr> <wbr></nobr>... Seller shall be authorized, and is hereby granted, the rights to take any action on Buyer's own behalf.
When SCO (Caldera Intl) tried to revoke IBM's irrevokable license to SysV for AIX, Novell told SCO that wasn't allowed.
A good source for information on the ongoing saga of The SCO Group and IBM is <A HREF="http://www.groklaw.net/" TITLE="groklaw.net">Groklaw</a groklaw.net>.
for IP to SCO ? Does Novell -really- want Linux
to be OS ? They've retrieved a sort of "IP" by
getting SuSE. If Novell has legal threads
on the UNIX property, why don't they go ahead
and open source the whole unix thing, code and IP ?
Is this a deal ? MS lets Novell live if Novell
helps limit Linux influence ?
It won't work. The horse has left the barn,
and the rest is men chasing the horse thru the fields on bicycles...
lets the U.S.A. pull control away from the
Continent and onto U.S. soil. Novell has lots
of DoD customers. So it's good for security.
Another example of U.S corportation vs Euro
corporation economic wars...
FLOSS has no nationality. We are all one big happy family and you just don't get it.
http://www.suse.com/us/company/press/press_releas<nobr>e<wbr></nobr> s/archive03/security_certification.html
FLOSS shouldn't be nationalistic, but paying money for FLOSS is.
And yes, I actually read the article you linked too and the only reference to DoD in there was:
"This standard, unique to the US Department of Defense (DoD), addresses functionality and interoperability requirements for commercially acquired IT products. "
I wonder what commercial Linux software entity is in the crosshairs now...
I doubt Novell will buy Mandrake (why bother, when they already have SUSE?), but wouldn't it be cool if Dell bought Mandrake?
I'll bet SuVell will continue to ship KDE, even if it isn't the default desktop. I don't really have a preference, at one time I preferred KDE because it was superior in features and stability. Both have their pros and cons and both will be around for a long time to come.
Those who prefer KDE will continue to use KDE. We even run KDE on Solaris for our Sun Ray clients, solaris doesn't ship with it yet we use it. The KDE community is very large and the KDE programmers are very good. It will not die.
YES...
It is the best. Also as someone said before KDE will lose alot of financial backing because of this deal those guys need money to keep KDE light years ahead of GNOME, SUSE helped make KDE the beautiful, responsive, innovative GUI it is today.
Amazing
Posted by: SarsSmarz on November 04, 2003 09:54 PMHowever, I wonder what market segment they will go after. RH is abandoning the cheepies to climb over the 'walnut wall'. Will Novell and Suse do the same? Will all those cheeptechies that said 'go to Suse' in the RH discussion, now have to swallow their code? Stay tuned.
-signed cheeptechie
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