SAP and Novell Deliver Expanded Linux Support Options for Customers
- Companies further relationship to offer long-term support and maintenance strategy for Linux as an open platform for SAP Applications
VIENNA, Austria -- May 15, 2007 -- SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) and Novell (NASDAQ: NOVL) today announced that they have extended their relationship to offer a new joint support solution for customers who run their SAP(R) applications on SUSE(R) Linux Enterprise Server from Novell(R). With today's announcement, customers who run their SAP applications on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server now have a single support entry point, from the operating system through the application, to streamline resolution of support incidents, reduce complexity and lower the total cost of ownership. Branded as "SUSE Linux Enterprise Server Priority Support for SAP applications," the offering is available starting today and is a maintenance and support package provided by Novell that will be integrated through the SAP Solution Manager application management solution into the SAP global support backbone for managing the entire life cycle of SAP applications. Through this agreement, SAP continues its commitment to deliver value to customers who choose to run open source and commercial software based on open standards. The announcement was made at SAPPHIRE(R) '07 Vienna, SAP's international customer conference being held in Vienna, Austria, May 14-16.
Novell and SAP plan to work together in the future to further optimize SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for SAP application platforms, including SAP NetWeaver(R) and SAP Business Suite. Further, SAP recommends SUSE Linux Enterprise Server as a preferred platform for customers who want to deploy SAP applications on Linux*. The combination of SAP Business Suite on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server will provide consistent manageability of SAP applications in mixed, open source and commercial software environments.
"Customers want choice, and since most of them run heterogeneous IT environments, using both open source and commercial software, we recognize the need to make service and support as smooth as possible," said Gerhard Oswald, member of the executive board, Global Service and Support, SAP AG. "SAP has a long-standing commitment to the open source community, including working with key technical standards organizations to create interoperability with commercial software. Our agreement with Novell makes it truly possible for companies to get long-term support and maintenance when deploying SAP applications on Linux, and continues to illustrate the openness and flexibility of business process platforms enabled by SAP and focused on the business and technical standards that drive business process agility and innovation."
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server Priority Support for SAP applications is focused on optimizing price performance for customers' mission-critical workloads and includes volume discounts designed for application configurations. Customers who purchase in the next 90 days will receive an additional discount on the first year. Please visit www.sdn.sap.com or www.novell.com/sapsupport for further details.
"This deal is an example of two industry leaders coming together on behalf of customers," said Ron Hovsepian, president and CEO, Novell. "Both SAP and Novell have heard from our customers that they are looking for a complete stack solution, from the operating system up to the application, with an integrated source of technical support that will help them lower cost and reduce complexity. SUSE Linux Enterprise Server is a recommended Linux distribution and internal development platform for SAP applications, and its further optimization will deliver the performance, reliability and scalability that customers demand when running their operations on SAP."
An Integrated and Supported Linux Solution for SAP Customers
In the future, SAP and Novell plan to explore other ways in which to further optimize SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for an SAP applications environment. The two vendors have a long-standing relationship working together, including having SUSE Linux Enterprise Server as a development platform for SAP applications, a scalable part of the infrastructure available via SAP Developer Network (SDN). The companies have previously announced several joint technical solutions including an optimized high-availability solution. By leveraging the scalability of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server – including its ability to scale to 1024 CPUs and more than 10TB of physical memory -– Novell and SAP can offer a Linux-based solution with the performance required by customers who run their mission-critical business operations on SAP applications.
For quotes from hardware vendors and systems integrators on today's announcement, please see addendum to the press release.
About Novell
Novell, Inc. (Nasdaq: NOVL) delivers infrastructure software for the Open Enterprise. Novell is a leader in enterprise-wide operating systems based on Linux and open source and provides the enterprise management services required to operate mixed IT environments. Novell helps customers minimize cost, complexity and risk, allowing them to focus on innovation and growth. For more information, visit www.novell.com.
About SAP
SAP is the world's leading provider of business software. Today, more than 39,400 customers in more than 120 countries run SAP applications -– from distinct solutions addressing the needs of small businesses and midsize companies to suite offerings for global organizations. Powered by the SAP NetWeaver platform to drive innovation and enable business change, SAP software helps enterprises of all sizes around the world improve customer relationships, enhance partner collaboration and create efficiencies across their supply chains and business operations. SAP solution portfolios support the unique business processes of more than 25 industries, including high tech, retail, financial services, healthcare and the public sector. With subsidiaries in more than 50 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE under the symbol "SAP." (Additional information at <http://www.sap.com>)
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Novell and SUSE are registered trademarks of Novell, Inc. in the United States and other countries. *Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. All other third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Press Contacts:
Kevan Barney, Novell, (801) 861-2931, kbarney@novell.com
Jason Loesche, SAP, (610) 661-8541, j.loesche@sap.com
Angelika Pfahler, SAP, +49 (0)6227 7-63596, angelika.pfahler@sap.com
SAP Press Office, +49 (6227) 7-46315, (610) 661-3200, press@sap.com
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Quotes from Partners Supporting SAP-Novell Agreement
May 15, 2007
"Today's announcement that SUSE Linux Enterprise Server from Novell will be integrated into the SAP Solution Center is good news for AMD customers who enjoy choice and demand high-performing solutions. SAP on the SUSE Linux Enterprise platform is a strong example of the customer-centric industry collaboration that AMD supports working with technology partners like SAP and Novell."
- Terri Hall, AMD Vice President, Software Alliances and Commercial Systems Marketing
"As a leading IT professional services organization, we are constantly delivering the best out of technology to our customers, and in particular these days the capability to combine proprietary solutions and open standards. For this reason, Capgemini has developed a strong relationship with Novell and we are extremely excited by SAP's endorsement of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, which fits our vision of the needs of our customers. As a global strategic partner of SAP, we look forward to further collaborating with Novell and SAP on joint projects."
- Patrick Nicolet, Capgemini Group Sales Director
"Dell is answering the call from customers to deliver complete solutions that help simplify their IT operations. We're accomplishing this by aligning with industry leaders like Novell and SAP who share our goal of helping customers reduce the complexity of their heterogeneous data center environments so they can focus on growing their business."
- Judy Chavis, Dell Product Group Director of Enterprise Marketing and Alliances
"Customers are rapidly moving to next-generation Linux-based IT architectures and they are demanding best-of-breed technologies that are integrated and well supported. Novell and SAP share our vision for mission-critical Linux in the Dynamic Data Center. With FlexFrame for SAP we offer a proven dynamic IT solution with business-critical SUSE Linux Enterprise support. Customer feedback shows that our FlexFrame with Linux provides a maximum of adaptability, availability and cost efficiency of SAP systems running on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server. The new offering from SAP and Novell support will enable us to provide enterprises with stress-free IT operations, to increase reliability and improve application availability at dramatically lowered costs."
- Bernd Kosch, Fujitsu Siemens Computers Vice President, Alliances
"When industry leaders align, as Novell and SAP have today, it's customers that ultimately benefit as they are better able to manage and transform their IT environments to optimize business outcomes. HP has worked closely with SAP and Novell for many years to develop, test and validate Linux-based solutions. HP server platforms have always been the right fit. As a proof point, a recently announced two-tier SAP Sales and Distribution Standard Application Benchmark running on an HP ProLiant DL380 server with SUSE Linux Enterprise from Novell earned the top 2-processor Linux result. Our joint customers can deploy SAP solutions confident in the knowledge that they have the power of HP, SAP and Novell behind them."
- Christine Martino, HP Vice President, Open Source & Linux Organization
"Both Novell and SAP are long-time partners of IBM, with SAP's offerings frequently deployed on IBM servers at both large and small customers. Strengthening SAP on the SUSE Linux Enterprise platform is a natural move, and we're thrilled to see Novell and SAP collaborate on behalf of customers."
- Jim Stallings, IBM General Manager, System z
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