At the recent Novell BrainShare EMEA event in Amsterdam, for which IBM was a sponsor, Jay Ennesser, vice president, Global Alliance Solutions, IBM, was interviewed about the emerging role of Linux in the cloud, and the strong IBM and Novell partnership which spans more than 10 years. Commenting on the role of Linux in the cloud, Ennesser noted it is already in utilities, water management systems, in how the infrastructure of people's homes is managed, and in cars. It is in everything people do every day and becoming more and more mainstream. "Cloud is just another natural extension of what has already gone on with Linux today. We will just provide you another opportunity from a cost of ownership point of view to deploy the services that are being deployed."

The future relationship between IBM and Novell is going to evolve with the new cloud computing and virtualization areas, said Ennesser. "We have had a great run for over 10 years and there is nothing I see in the future that says we can't have another good run for another 10 years." Partnerships like the one IBM has with Novell will be important to developing value for common clients and Linux is a critical element of that effort. Watch the video now.