Novell Releases Open Enterprise Server

Novell has begun shipping its long-awaited Open Enterprise Server (OES) operating system. The hybrid server environment combines the legacy file, print and network-management features of NetWare with the operating-system heft of Linux. The latter is folded into the product in the form of Novell's SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 (SLES 9).

In marketing terms, Novell is hoping OES will provide a gentle migration path for its legions of longtime NetWare users who have been wondering where to go next--and may have been considering Microsoft--now that that product has effectively reached the end of the line.

OES ships with both NetWare and Linux, so users can pick either one to serve as the face of their installation.

"You can choose either the NetWare kernel running underneath OES or SLES 9 Linux," says Charlie Ungashick, Linux marketing manager at Novell. "The OES services will run the same, regardless of which you choose. You can even run NetWare and SLES side-by-side in a cluster."