Microsoft continues to bridge its proprietary Windows operating system with the open source Linux platform, simultaneously advancing its collaboration with Novell. The two companies announced that they would deliver a joint virtualization solution tailored to customers running heterogeneous environments. In this regard, Linux will be married with the recently launched Windows Server Hypervisor. Microsoft revealed that the new virtualization product would involve Novell's SUSE Linux Enterprise Server operating system and Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V.

“The collaboration between Microsoft and Novell has been built by our desire to meet our customers’ and partners’ IT needs, and to deliver solutions that support customers’ mixed-source environments. For customers standardizing on Microsoft’s hypervisor who also have a mixed-source IT environment, this virtualization solution gives that choice. For channel partners who need a cross-platform hypervisor offering, our work with Novell gives them an easy starting point,” explained Bob Kelly, corporate vice president of infrastructure server marketing within the Server and Tools Business at Microsoft.

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server will be optimized to run as a guest operating system in a virtual machine on top of Windows Server 2009 Hyper-V. Outside of the optimizations delivered to the joined virtualization solution, Microsoft and Novell are prepared to offer full support for the new product. But not only Microsoft and Novell will be offering support, as the Redmond giant indicated that channel partners would be able to do the same. In this regard, Computer Integrated Services Company, Continental Resources, Dell, Insight, Total Tec Systems, and 21Vianet are all backing up the marriage between SUSE Linux and Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V.

“We’re very pleased to be offering this new virtualization solution with Microsoft and our channel partners, which demonstrates the success of our ongoing technical and business relationship and the unique, high-value solutions we can deliver for our customers,” added Roger Levy, general manager and senior vice president, Open Platform Solutions, Novell. “Together, we offer our customers dramatic cost savings and greatly enhance overall business agility, allowing them to leverage SUSE Linux Enterprise Server as the best virtualized guest for those who are using Hyper-V. Novell has worked closely with Microsoft on virtualization solutions, and was a charter member of its Server Virtualization Validation Program, with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server a fully supported and validated operating system on Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V.”