Back in 2006, when it inked a strategic interoperability and intellectual property assurance agreement with Novell, Microsoft also tapped the other top Linux vendor worldwide, Red Hat, for a similar alliance. Red Hat might have said “no” to the IP assurance marriage proposal from the Redmond company, but Microsoft and Novell are in fact offering intellectual property peace of mind to customers running the Red Hat distribution of the open source operating system, along to other companies leveraging different distros of the Linux OS.

The landmark Microsoft and Novell agreement has not entered its third year and the two companies continue to draw in customers around the globe. In 2008, Novell launched a new subscription service, designed to provide companies running non-SUSE Linux platforms not only with expanded support, while transitioning to the Linux distro from Novell, but also with intellectual property peace of mind from Microsoft. The service is addressed at organizations running Red Hat Linux and additional third-party distributions of the OS that want to migrate to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server. Through IP assurance, the Redmond company is guaranteeing that no legal actions will be filed against companies running open source software that might infringe on Microsoft’s patents.

“Forward-thinking companies are realizing the benefits of an interoperability collaboration designed to address the mixed-source realities we’re facing today and will continue to face tomorrow,” revealed Ted MacLean, general manager for Strategic Partnerships and Licensing at Microsoft. “Over the past three years, we have demonstrated our interoperability dedication time and again through the delivery of cross-platform technical solutions that carry the benefits of IP peace of mind. These solutions, coupled with Novell’s proven technical support programs, make it easier than ever for our customers to have confidence that their existing infrastructure investments will serve them well into the future.”

According to the Redmond giant, companies that have opted for Novell’s SUSE Linux Enterprise Server with Expanded Support service subscription, indicated that intellectual property assurance was a critical factor of their choice. Microsoft mentioned that customers subscribing to the Novell service had done so seeking to reduce risks and receive guarantees related to the viability of the Novell and Microsoft offerings.