Novell offers SUSE Enterprise Linux 11 partner training

Novell: SUSE 11 brings channel opportunities

Novell SUSE Enterprise Linux 11 hit the market this week, along with new sales and technical training for channel partners. The recession is driving increased demand for Linux, and solutions providers need to be ready, said Steve Hale, vice president of Novell's global data center channel.

"We've done a lot to move back into being a channel-focused company," he said. "It's much more profitable to work with Novell."

The company also said it will highlight specific partners that work in the markets where Linux is most in demand. New SUSE 11 features include enhanced optimization for the leading virtualization hypervisors and remote memory swapping, according to SearchEnterpriseLinux.com.

Server spending sinking

Server spending will continue to fall for the next year and a half, according to IDC. SearchDataCenter.com this week reported the results of IDC's latest server forecast update, which said the second quarter of this year will be the worst yet for server sales -- with a 23% year-over-year drop-off. The research firm does not expect the market to show growth until the fourth quarter of 2010, and even then the improvement will be just 1.5%.

Check out last week's Systems Channel News Roundup.