BMW AG and Siemens Corp. today became the latest customers to take
advantage of the collaboration between Microsoft Corp. and Novell that
enables IT interoperability in mixed-source environments.
As part of the five-year Microsoft-Novell agreement, announced Nov. 2, 2006, Microsoft can make subscription certificates available for customers to redeem to receive SUSE Linux Enterprise Server support services directly from Novell.
Under two separate agreements, Microsoft will deliver to BMW and Siemens each certificates for three-year priority support subscriptions to SUSE(R) Linux Enterprise Server from Novell(R). The agreements, which will help the companies run both Microsoft(R) Windows(R) and SUSE Linux Enterprise systems seamlessly together, demonstrate Microsoft and Novell's ongoing commitment to helping customers reduce overall cost, increase efficiencies and address the challenges of operating in mixed-source environments.
BMW and Siemens join a steadily growing group of European companies, including Credit Suisse and HSBC, which are benefiting from Novell and Microsoft's agreement to jointly build and support solutions to improve interoperability, deliver powerful new virtualization capabilities, and provide intellectual property (IP) peace of mind.
For Siemens, the agreement will support the Siemens operating company through the work of the ISEC subsidiary of Siemens Enterprise Communications, which is responsible for customer software application development and management worldwide. Due to the large quantity of current and legacy Linux* applications in customer environments, Siemens has significant need for Windows and Linux platform compatibility.
"Siemens customers operate in a heterogeneous environment, and our ability to harness the interoperability work between Novell and Microsoft brings immense value to our business," said Dr. Manfred Wangler, vice president, Corporate Research and Technology, Siemens. "Agreements like this allow us to focus on innovating, working with partners to improve processes and efficiencies by providing the framework for collaboration."
The agreement will enable BMW's dual-vendor datacenter strategy, supporting worldwide corporate computing services and many human resources, marketing and financial applications. BMW now has the potential to pursue systems management in a more efficient and reliable manner, more securely ramp up its future virtualization activities, and have IP peace of mind. |
