Novell has announced that it is working with Microsoft Corp. to develop advanced Linux management solutions that will allow customers to simplify the management of mixed IT environments.

"Customers today are looking for solutions that enable them to manage heterogeneous IT environments, and Microsoft is pleased to extend our System Center suite to offer management for Linux distributions, like SUSE Linux Enterprise," said Brad Anderson, general manager of the Management and Services Division at Microsoft. "Microsoft is both using and intending to contribute enhancements to the OpenPegasus Project’s Common Information Model Object Manager (CIMOM) and delivering to the open source community interoperable providers, which collect management data and make it accessible to management services."

As part of the collaboration, Novell will work with Microsoft to enhance the System Centre Operations Manager 2007 Cross Platform Extensions. This extension of Microsoft System Center Operations Manager utilises industry standards such as WS-Management and open source software to deliver Linux and UNIX management. Leveraging its collaboration with Microsoft, industry standards and open source software, Novell intends to develop an advanced Linux management pack for System Center Operations Manager 2007. In addition, Novell plans to utilise the open source interoperable providers to extend the Linux management capabilities of its Novell ZENworks systems management products.

"Novell has previously outlined in its Systems and Resource Management blueprint that it intends to support in its ZENworks solutions the use of open source and open standards to simplify and standardise systems management," said Joe Wagner, senior vice president and general manager for Novell Systems and Resource Management. "By working together to extend Linux management for System Centre Operations Manager, Microsoft and Novell are building on this standards-based, open source foundation to provide superior management for mixed IT environments. The collaboration will give customers flexibility with a unique combination of heterogeneous IT management software."