Independent analyst house Lighthouse Research & Development has recently compared Linux technical support providers and found that enterprises using Novell's Linux support are reporting higher levels of satisfaction than customers using Linux support from Red Hat and Oracle. Whether they receive their support in the field, by phone or over the web, Lighthouse says that customers using SUSE Linux Enterprise benefit from the best-supported enterprise Linux platform in the market, which enables them to drive growth and ensure business continuity.
Although somewhat cloudy over the question of whether Novell has paid for this "independent" research, the Lighthouse study gathered the opinions of technical personnel at companies who have used Linux support services provided by Novell, Oracle, or Red Hat within the past 12 months. Lighthouse reported that the percentage of users rating Novell's Linux support a seven or higher (on a 10-point scale) was 71 percent, compared to 65 percent for Oracle users, and 61 percent for Red Hat users. For mixed-platform environments, the differences were even more pronounced, with Novell being rated seven or higher by 70 percent of respondents, compared to a mere 44 percent for Oracle, and 59 percent for Red Hat.
Novell is showboating its positive ranking in the wake of reports issued by the Association of Service Professionals, which has also recently highlighted CheckPoint Software Technologies, Cisco Systems, IBM, Juniper Networks, and Microsoft, who were recognized for excellence in online support. Recognized companies were selected based on 25 separate performance criteria covering usability, design and navigation, knowledgebase and search implementation, interactive features, and overall customer experience.
