02.27.10
Novell News Summary – Part II: Two Weeks of SUSE, Samsung, and LG
Summary: Very little SUSE coverage with substance; a lot of coverage about Bada and LG’s plan to make an e-reader (probably Ballnux based)
SUSE (SLES/SLED)
IT HAS been a very quiet couple of weeks for SUSE. Apart from some PR rambles about SUSE appliances [1, 2, 3, 4] (mostly recycling of old news), it turns out that Novell is paying RedMonk for some public shows about SUSE.
On the certification side, here is something about Novell’s new agreement with LPI (mentioned two weeks ago):
LPIC-1 = CLA
Under a new agreement between the Linux Professional Institute (LPI) and Novell, individuals who earn LPI Level 1 (LPIC-1) certification are considered to have also met the requirements for Novell’s Certified Linux Administrator (CLA) designation. For information on how to go from LPIC to CLA, visit the LPI website.
Novell are Red Hat are both mentioned in the following couple of articles:
i. Novell and Red Hat: Taking Linux to the Cloud
It is interesting to see how Open source rivals Red Hat and Novell have transferred their Linux warfare to the cloud. As both companies seek to use their open source history to advantage on the web platform by spouting standard mantras about avoiding vendor lock-ins and low cost, they have also taken different approaches on other counts when taking their cloud services to market.
[...]
After surveying 100 IT managers, Murphy and Schwartz, two Piper Jaffray & Co analysts in a study called “The Future Is In The Cloud: A Survey Driven Forecast For Cloud Computing,” predict that “Red Hat will play an important role as its open source solutions are often the foundation of cloud computing…” That is compared to other companies; Red Hat already has the infrastructure with respect to a well-oiled low cost Linux system that is often used in cloud deployments, enough to gain a significant traction in cloud in a short period of time. What’s more most major cloud service providers like Salesforce.com and Google run Red Hat’s Enterprise Linux anyway.
ii. Ubuntu Linux Now Available to US Gov’t Customers
Conical’s Ubuntu has become third Linux operating system approved by the General Services Administration for use by federal purchasers. It joins Linux distributions from Red Hat and Novell, already available through the GSA Advantage purchasing program.
There is also the following little portion about SLES:
Talking about SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10/11, Mishra asserted that it has best in class RAS features, can host most popular ISV products, comes with a Virtual Machine Driver Pack, provides enhanced application security using AppArmor, network detection, monitoring, and filtering, comes with certified workloads like SAP and Oracle, and has Active Directory integration, migration tools for UNIX/Windows amongst other features.
SUSE support is mentioned in this new press release about Security Blanket and the Var Guy gives Novell coverage by mentioning Cloud Security Service:
Novell continues to push beyond the SUSE Linux market. Among the major moves: The company is beta testing Novell Cloud Security Service, which is scheduled for general availability in May or June, according to Novell sources attending the Parallels Summit in Miami. Here are the implications for hosting providers and cloud integrators.
First announced in July 2009, Novell Cloud Security Service “enables Cloud Providers and Software as a Service (SaaS) vendors to ensure their offerings meet the strict security and compliance standards required by global businesses.”
Other new articles relating to Cloud Security Service include:
• Parallels Summit 2010 – Day 2 Session: Generating Revenue through Cloud Security Offerings
Novell VP of sales Greg Fegan delivered the afternoon’s next session presentation, “Generating Revenue through Cloud Security Offerings”.
• CA joins Cloud Security Alliance
The Cloud Security Alliance is a non-profit organization promoting security best practices within cloud computing. Other members include Novell Inc., VMware Inc. and Microsoft Corp. Earlier this month, Santa Clara, Calif.-based chip maker Intel Corp. joined the Alliance.
• Cloud computing security challenges unite hosting providers, security specialists
PivotLink, for instance, which offers cloud-based pay-as-you-go business-intelligence services, including an analysis service for data related to Salesforce.com, is in partnership with Novell to beta-test Novell’s cloud security service, which includes various identity-management capabilities based on software hosted at GoGrid.
Samsung
Samsung pays Microsoft for Linux and there are some Samsung phones out there which are not branded “Samsung”. One of them is the Vodafone 360 H1 (Vodafone has former Microsoft people) and here is a factsheet about what Samsung is doing:
SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS (005930.KS)
Samsung, the world’s second-biggest in overall mobile phones, sold 5.7 million smartphones in 2009 for 3 percent of the global market.
The South Korean group aims to at least treble its smartphone volume this year and plans to offer phones running on Android, Windows Mobile and Linux, as well as its own bada software platform. Samsung has opened bada to outside developers to raise its position in smartphones. [ID:nGEE5B71QB]
Yes, there is a lot of coverage about this move to Bada, which is ‘taxed’ by Microsoft by the way. Among the coverage we have found (although it’s not strictly about Bada):
i. Samsung Wave to debut Bada OS at MWC
Samsung Bada, the company’s new Linux-based homegrown OS, will definitely be debuting at MWC, and thanks this massive billboard, we now know that one of the first devices to showcase it will be the Samsung Wave.
ii. e-con Licenses its e-CAM Camera Solution to Samsung Electronics Korea
Facial detection and Video/Image capture etc., both on Windows CE 5.0/6.0 and Linux operating systems.
iii. Samsung Wave launches at MWC 2010
iv. Samsung Waves hello to Bada
v. Samsung Hopes Super Screen Will Boost Bada Platform
vi. Samsung launches smartphone ‘to rival iPhone’
The Wave features a hi-tech organic LED screen (AMOLED) which is thinner, less reflective and more energy efficient than traditional LED displays, which require back-lighting. It is also the first handset to run Samsung’s new open source operating system (OS) Bada and features an iTunes-style apps store for downloading games, mapping, eBooks and lifestyle applications.
vii. Samsung Wave Bada-Based SmartPhone Announced
The Samsung Wave is the first mobile that runs on Samsungs new operating system Bada. The Bada is an open-source operating system which Samsung hopes will lead to a vast array of applications and games being made by developers.
viii. Samsung Wave Unveiled
ix. Vodafone lets Androiders in on 360
x. Samsung Makes A Big Play for the Mobile Enterprise
According to v3.co.uk, Samsung will release the devices this year as it makes deals with mobile carriers. The company will also support Android on some of the devices. Additionally, Samsung will offer offer enterprise applications on the LiMo platform and its own Bada mobile operating system.
xi. amsung unveils first Bada phone
xii. Samsung Galaxy Portal i5700
Samsung’s Galaxy Portal is the Korean firm’s latest dip into Android waters and for now it’s exclusive to T-Mobile. It’s been available in Europe since last year as the Galaxy Spica but, unlike most Samsung smartphones, this is pure Android.
LG
This is the other Korean giant that makes Ballnux phones (‘taxed’ by Microsoft). LG will also make an e-reader [1, 2] which will quite possibly run Linux, for which LG pays Microsoft. It’s just like Kindle after the Amazon patent deal [1, 2, 3].
Movial and LG get together and LG foresees consolidation in phones (Pocket Lint sensationalises this and puts words in LG’s mouth). Either way, SUSE, Samsung, and LG are products/companies that we urge people to avoid. They make GNU/Linux a non-Free product because they endorse software patents and play ball for Microsoft. █
