Novell Enhances Partner Certification Programs to Promote Linux Offerings

-- 'NOVELL READY' program allows small software firms to show their

support for Novell's LINUX offerings -- Novell's new porting and migration resources and incentives help

partners easily develop for SUSE LINUX products SAN FRANCISCO, (LinuxWorld Conference & Expo), Aug. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Novell (Nasdaq: NOVL) today strengthened its partner relationships with two initiatives designed to help partners certify their solutions for Novell's platforms, including Linux*. -- Under Novell's top-level "YES CERTIFIED" program, a partner application

or hardware offering will be rigorously tested for compatibility with

Novell's technology. Should a compatibility problem arise with a

"YES CERTIFIED" solution, Novell and its partner commit to working

together to resolve the issue, giving customers the confidence to

deploy Linux-based solutions for mission-critical functions.

-- The "NOVELL READY" program, which is focused on the SUSE(R) LINUX

platform, will allow smaller hardware and software partners to do their

own compatibility testing. Novell also offers partners extensive porting and migration resources and special incentives to help move applications running on Windows*, UNIX* and other Linux distributions to SUSE LINUX. All these initiatives benefit customers by increasing the scope and quality of applications running on Linux from Novell.

"An important impediment to broader enterprise adoption of Linux is a perceived shortage of mainstream applications on Linux," said Hal Bennett, vice president of alliances at Novell. "Our compatibility certification programs will help customers get a clearer picture of what's available and supported on Linux, and will help our partners go to market more successfully with their Linux offerings. With its common code base across all major hardware platforms, unique among major Linux distributions, SUSE LINUX provides a compelling platform for developers to build to. We're putting significant resources behind getting more enterprise-level applications to Linux quickly."

Novell pioneered compatibility certification programs in the networking industry, and its "YES, Tested and Approved" mark has long been an important criteria for customer purchases. The new "YES CERTIFIED" program replaces the "YES, Tested and Approved" program, and also incorporates the "SUSE LINUX CERTIFIED" program that SUSE LINUX, acquired by Novell in January 2004, offered to its partners. Traditional Novell and Novell SUSE LINUX products will now share the same processes and testing requirements and use the same Novell infrastructure and testing console to obtain "YES CERTIFIED" status. Membership in the Novell PartnerNet(R) program is required for hardware and software vendors to participate in the certification program. For more details on the "YES CERTIFED" program, please visit http://developer.novell.com/yespgm/ .

"Meeting the rigorous requirements outlined by Novell's 'YES CERTIFIED' program helps Trend Micro provide customers with Linux-based antivirus security products that will install quickly and easily, and integrate smoothly with SUSE LINUX," said Richard Ku, director of product management, Trend Micro. "Compatibility certification programs such as this from Novell are particularly important in the emerging enterprise Linux market."

The NOVELL READY program is designed for partners who have run their own compatibility tests against SUSE LINUX. Its goal is to help partners expose and promote their Novell-based solutions effectively while they work to achieve the rigorous requirements of the "YES CERTIFIED" program. The NOVELL READY program replaces the SUSE LINUX Ready program and expands the scope beyond software vendors to include hardware partners, as well. Vendors do not need to belong to Novell's PartnerNet program to apply for NOVELL READY status. Partners interested in participating in the NOVELL READY program can find details at http://www.novell.com/ready .

To aggressively drive development and certification of applications for the SUSE LINUX platform, Novell is announcing a promotion around Novell porting and migration resources. Under this promotion, software vendors who already have applications running on another version of Linux and who commit to working with Novell to port their application to SUSE LINUX can get the offering "YES CERTIFIED" for free, receive free PartnerNet program participation for six months, get assistance from Novell in supporting and promoting the product, and obtain developer and support training. Details on how to qualify for this opportunity are available at http://www.novell.com/partners/isvihv/getyescertified.html .

In addition to this promotion, Novell provides numerous resources to help companies and developers port their applications to SUSE LINUX. Developers can choose from a range of options including overviews, "how-to" guides, and tools designed to assist the developer. These resources can be found at http://developer.novell.com/linux/migration.html . About Novell

Novell, Inc. is a leading provider of information solutions that deliver secure identity management (Novell(R) Nsure(TM)), Web application development (Novell exteNd(TM)) and cross-platform networking services (Novell Nterprise(TM)), all supported by strategic consulting and professional services (Novell Ngage(SM)). Active in the open source community with its Ximian(R) and SUSE LINUX brands, Novell provides a full range of Linux products and services for the enterprise, from the desktop to the server. Novell's vision of one Net -- a world without information boundaries -- helps customers realize the value of their information securely and economically. For more information, call Novell's Customer Response Center at 888-321-4CRC (4272) or visit http://www.novell.com . Press should visit http://www.novell.com/pressroom . NOTE: Novell and Ximian are registered trademarks; Nsure, exteNd and Nterprise are trademarks; PartnerNet is a registered service mark; and Ngage is a service mark of Novell, Inc. in the United States and other countries. SUSE is a registered trademark of SUSE AG, a Novell business. *All third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners