Enterprise open source Toolkit

Novell introduces Linux thin client

Colin Barker ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 20 Mar 2007 13:42 GMT

One of the headaches of introducing an open source solution to a business is the work that has to be done in making a solution fit-for-purpose once the software has been acquired. Novell is hoping to make that process slightly easier with a thin-client version of Suse Linux that comes with a tool third parties can use to create a finished, tailored system.

Suse Linux Enterprise Thin Client was one of a number of announcements made by Novell on Monday at its Brainshare 2007 user conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. The company will be looking to the show to offer good news after the disappointment of its recent financial results.

From the announcement it appeared that Novell is focusing on the low cost of implementing its Linux solution. The desktop toolkit provided includes the desktop software and the toolkit to build, deploy and maintain images for some different specialist thin-client environments, such as call centres and manufacturing, as well as settings for different types of transactions.

Roger Levy, Novell's vice president and general manager of Open Platform Solutions, said this will offer "a new low-cost, flexible solution for... end-user computing requirements."

At the same time, Novell also announced Service Pack 1 (SP1) of Suse Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 10 with a series of enhancements. The main improvement is to virtualisation technology, including an update of the Xen hypervisor, now at version 3.0.4++, and improved server consolidation tools for system management.

Also included is new software to allow Windows Server 2000/2003/XP to run unmodified in Xen virtual environments using the virtualisation support built into more recent Intel and AMD chips. Novell promises that "seamless live migration" is possible for paravirtualised virtual machines across distinct physical hosts.

The Novell AppArmor 2.0 security framework is now integrated into SLES 10 and it now supports Apache Tomcat. Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop now includes lockdown tools, secure disk partitions and encrypted home directories, the company said.

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Its the applications and device drivers that run on windows that cement its dominance. How many people would fork out hundreds of pounds for Vista if Linux ran all the software and kit they wanted to use.