Novell to Support Virtual Iron Data Center Virtualization and Management Platform

First paravirtualized solution supported on commercial Linux to reduce cost and increase performance in the enterprise data center

WALTHAM, Mass., and LOWELL, Mass. – Feb. 6, 2006 – Novell and Virtual Iron Software today announced that Novell's SUSE® Linux Enterprise Server 9 now supports Virtual Iron's data center virtualization and management platform. Novell is shipping a pre-configured kernel with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server to allow businesses to leverage the Virtual Iron technology for rapid deployment and configuration of enterprise-class computing workloads in the data center. As a result, organizations have the ability to improve overall data center management, reducing operating costs and increasing IT operating flexibility and responsiveness.

“The Virtual Iron offering provides an important new alternative for clients looking to virtualize their open source platforms such as Novell's SUSE Linux Enterprise Server,” said Juhi Jotwani, director of BladeCenter Solutions, IBM Systems and Technology Group. “IBM BladeCenter customers running Linux will benefit from this integrated system-level virtualization which complements the broad portfolio of IBM virtualization solutions.”

Virtual Iron is the first paravirtualized solution to be supported on commercial Linux*. The software offers enterprise-class data center virtualization and policy-based management solutions that deliver maximum flexibility to production-level applications such as J2EE* application servers, databases and high-performance computing. The Virtual Iron solution increases resource utilization through pooling and sharing of data center resources, and it improves IT agility via dynamic and flexible infrastructure, rapid provisioning, rapid reconfiguration and capacity-on-demand capabilities.

“Our partnership with Virtual Iron is another example of Novell’s strategy to deliver choice to our customers,” said Hal Bennett, vice president of global alliances for Novell. “With Virtual Iron on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, our support for it and other leading virtualization solutions gives our customers tools to create a flexible and agile data center.”

Mike Grandinetti, Virtual Iron's chief marketing officer, said, “Transitioning the data center to a more dynamic virtual model is essential to reducing the complexity and improving the responsiveness of today’s IT organization. The support for Virtual Iron in SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 enables enterprises to leverage the full power of a dynamic data center infrastructure and the dramatic gains it offers in agility, performance and operating expense.”

Novell fully supports the Virtual Iron solution without affecting existing independent software vendor certifications on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.

About Novell
Novell, Inc. (Nasdaq: NOVL) delivers Software for the Open EnterpriseTM. With more than 50,000 customers in 43 countries, Novell helps customers manage, simplify, secure and integrate their technology environments by leveraging best-of-breed, open standards-based software. With over 20 years of experience, more than 5,000 employees, 5,000 partners and support centers around the world, Novell helps customers gain control over their IT operating environment while reducing cost. More information about Novell can be found at http://www.novell.com.

About Virtual Iron Software, Inc.
Virtual Iron provides enterprise-class, data center virtualization and management software solutions that enable companies to dramatically reduce the complexity and cost of managing and operating their data centers. The company serves large organizations in the financial services, manufacturing, healthcare, government, retail and hosted services industries. Virtual Iron is privately held and based in Lowell, Massachusetts. For more information, visit www.virtualiron.com or email info@virtualiron.com. 

Novell and SUSE are registered trademarks and Software for the Open Enterprise is a trademark 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 

Tim Walsh
Virtual Iron
(978) 849-1247
twalsh@virtualiron.com

Erin O'Keefe
Horn Group for Novell
(415) 905-4005
eokeefe@horngroup.com 

Dan Carter
Racepoint Group for Virtual Iron
(781) 487-4602
dcarter@racepointgroup.com