IBM is delivering a portfolio of software appliances across IBM brands, all powered by SUSE Linux Enterprise Server. Leveraging the SUSE Appliance Program from Novell, the initiative enables IBM to provide "plug-and-play" appliances that lower the cost and complexity of deploying applications for small and medium-sized businesses and help independent software vendors simplify the packaging of their solutions for multiple environments, enabling them to test, deploy and scale offerings.
"IBM was one of the first partners that we had in this space. We have been working with IBM for over two years on the appliance marketplace," Josh Dorfman, director of alliance and ecosystem marketing, Novell, tells 5 Minute Briefing. This collaboration "really speaks to the fact that IBM has embraced the idea of software appliances."
IBM sees value in software appliances because they give customers and partners flexibility combined with greater speed-to-market and lower overall costs, says Jean Staten Healy, director of Linux strategy at IBM. With pre-configured combinations of an application, middleware and operating system integrated into a single image and tailored to run on industry-standard hardware, software appliances provide an easy way to package and distribute software. Now, IBM customers and partners can deploy customized and fully-tested software appliances to physical, virtual or cloud environments. IBM is also offering "virtual stacks" on the IBM Smart Business Development and Test Cloud.
Novell is working with IBM across many of the company's different software businesses, notes Dorfman. "You are seeing software appliances throughout the entire IBM software portfolio and we look forward to continuing to work with them on appliances."
IBM's new appliances based on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server are available for IBM WebSphere Application Server Hypervisor Edition; IBM Cognos Now!; and IBM Smart Analytics Optimizer. The appliances are also available on IBM Lotus Foundations and IBM Lotus Protector for Mail Security.
For more information about the Novell and IBM partnership, go here.