The German subsidiaries of Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) and Novell Inc. are teaming to offer Linux-based products to the country’s huge public sector.
Hewlett-Packard Deutschland GmbH and Novell GmbH will collaborate in providing German public sector organizations with favourably priced, easy-to-implement IT systems based on the open-source operating system, the two companies announced this week at the LinuxWorld conference and exhibition in Frankfurt, Germany.
Novell, which acquired Germany’s SuSE Linux AG last year, will bring its SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 to the public sector initiative, as well as a client version of the operating system and additional administration and security tools, the company said.
For its part, HP will provide a range of Linux-optimized products, including server, storage systems, desktop PCs, notebooks, thin clients and printers. “We will be providing these products at very favourable conditions that include zero per cent leasing for 24 months and even longer,” said Marina Walser, director of marketing for central Europe at Novell.
In addition to pricing, HP and Novell will collaborate in developing new Linux-based applications for the public sector and, equally important, in helping organizations migrate existing proprietary applications to open source, Walser said.
Novell has a similar partnership with IBM Corp. to supply Linux-based IT through a deal Big Blue reached with SuSE Linux in 2002.