Summary: Novell drifts further away from Free software and deeper into the foggy realms of 'cloud' computing, which may suit an acquisition by a virtualisation company rather well

Novell has been redefining its focus recently. It positions itself as a Fog Computing ('cloud') company and it truly shows. This may also suit a buyer like VM_Bware, which is all about virtualisation at its core. "A Key to Unlocking the Cloud" is a new article which is an interview with Novell about Fog Computing. From the introduction: "Arthur Cole spoke with John Stetic, vice president of product management, Novell. Cloud lock-in is such a concern among enterprises that whenever a company like Novell releases a system said to traverse multiple platforms, we take notice. Stetic explains how the new Cloud Manager crosses the barriers between virtual and cloud platforms and helps tighten resource allocation in the bargain."

"New Product News" is another fresh item which contains the following: "Novell Inc. announced the release of Novell Cloud Manager, a new solution that enables users to create and manage cloud computing options. Novell Cloud Manager automatically creates and deploys workloads into the virtual environment based on pre-defined workload templates, as well as allows users to create and manage private clouds on all leading hypervisors, operating systems and operating platforms."

Oddly enough, Novell also spreads some fear of Fog Computing, as means of selling products for it:

Cloud is a delight for hackers, says Novell

[...]

An identity-infused enterprise, which would see a user's profile monitored by every IT system they interface with in real time, is one way of tackling cloud security problems, according to Brian Singer, senior solutions marketing manager for security management at Novell.

ITWeb says that "Novell releases cloud manager" and LNLP is covering this timely product (about 5 minutes from the start: "Novell punts cloud control tool, Fact or Fiction?").



There is also this new video to accompany the product:



Over at Novell's PR blog, looking at the past 2 weeks' items, we find just proprietary software in all cases pretty much (nearly everything), sometimes with Fog Computing spin and selective promotion for the CEO. There is also one press release for proprietary software. Those who still call Novell an "open source" company are simply not paying attention to its recent activities and announcements. ⬆