Some questioned the level of support that Microsoft will offer for Linux workloads. David Kaefer, general manager of IP licensing at Microsoft, said it is in the company's strategic interest to ensure that Windows is seen as a virtualization-friendly platform, and it is serious about ensuring that customers get support for running SUSE Linux workloads on Windows.
To help deliver support to customers and partners, Technical Support Alliance Network (TSA.Net), Overland Park, Kan., will coordinate and manage the joint support models and will serve as a broker to handle the handoffs, Kaefer said.
Microsoft and Novell each have assigned partner managers to collaborate and jointly communicate the benefits of the pact to solution providers in the field. Novell is considering a requirement in its PartnerNet 2007 program that would require Linux partners seeking specialist certification to gain expertise on interoperability, Timpson said.
The deal is viewed by some as bad news for Red Hat and VMware, which countered the Microsoft-Novell alliance last week with an expanded partnership of their own that promises better interoperability between Red Hat Linux and VMware's virtualization platforms.
Whether Microsoft's clout steers customers and partners to Novell SUSE Linux and Microsoft's virtualization hypervisor remains to be seen. Regardless, better interoperability should benefit all partners making a bet on lucrative virtualization technology and Linux deployments, one partner said.
"In the future, in Microsoft environments where the customer is virtualizing using Microsoft applications on top of Microsoft Virtual Server or in the longer term with Linux-Xen, then those customers probably will use SUSE and Microsoft products," said Ken Mclaurin, senior marketing manager of open source and virtualization at Akibia, a solution provider in Westborough, Mass. "For customers who are currently using VMware and/or Red Hat's operating system with applications that require a more unified stack, then those customers will probably use VMware and Red Hat."
With virtualization comes new management complexities partners must resolve. Novell's implementation of the WS-Federation protocolpromised as part of the pactshould help IT administrators and service partners set up a back-end infrastructure that authenticates and authorizes Windows and Linux users seamlessly on the same network as well as offers cross-authentication. This, for example, will allow customers to more easily push group policies from Microsoft Active Directory to Novell eDirectory.
Other ripple effects of the multifaceted deal likely will include an increase in pre-installs of SUSE Linux on custom systems, servers and desktops. One system builder that recently signed up to preload SUSE Linux Desktop on his systems said it will accelerate his cross-platform Linux business. And he said he hopes the deal spurs Adobe Systems and Intuit to bring out native Linux versions of their leading desktop applications.
"The partnership is a great win for the Linux community, [and] more importantly SUSE Linux, and it will help add some validity to Linux for those businesses that were leery," said Nathan Rockhold, president of R Cubed Technologies, Galesburg, Ill. "It will be a huge advantage to any system builder that supports a mixed-platform office with Linux, Unix and Windows. Previously, some users would have multiple machines or would have to dual-boot to accomplish different job tasks."
The shortest-term benefit for partners is availability of Office file-format translators due in the first half of 2007, Microsoft's Kaefer said.
"It's the easiest technology to create a solution for," said Kaefer, noting that Microsoft and Novell are working on ODF-to-OXML translators that extend interoperability beyond just documents.
Naysayers say the vendors' promises exist only on paper and may not materialize into real benefits for partners. One open-source consulting firm advises customers to look to open-source specialists to implement SUSE Linux.
"This is primarily an agreement about patents between Novell and Microsoft and doesn't represent a real change in strategy for either company," said Dave Gynn, infrastructure practice manager at Optaros, Cambridge, Mass. "We would still recommend that our customers look to a Linux-knowledgeable partner before Microsoft for advice on Linux strategy. And Microsoft's approach of maintaining a cloud of uncertainty around Linux hasn't changed."
Another partner sees the deal as a possible prelude to a merger between two OS archrivals that have battled for years but now face a common enemy.
"Novell and Microsoft and Apple are pulling together closely to protect themselves against what [Oracle CEO Larry] Ellison might be doing with Red Hat. Ellison could do a hostile takeover or worseforce Red Hat out of business," said Gregg Rosenberg, founder and CTO of RICIS, a Tinley Park, Ill., solution provider doing work on open-source mail systems. "There are a couple of possibilitiesit may be that Novell licenses technology to Microsoft or Microsoft attempts to acquire Novell, both of which are realistic at this point, and neither of which I like."
BARBARA DARROW & STEVEN BURKE contributed to this story.
