Novell

Company: Novell, Waltham, MA
Entry Submitted By: PAN Communications
Company Description: Novell, Inc. (Nasdaq: NOVL)delivers the best engineered, most interoperable Linux platform and a portfolio of integrated IT management software that helps customers around the world reduce cost, complexity and risk. With our infrastructure software and ecosystem of partnerships, Novell harmoniously integrates mixed IT environments, allowing people and technology to work as one.
Nomination Category: Products & Product Management Categories
Nomination Sub Category: New Product or Service of the Year - Computer Services

Nomination Title: SUSE Studio™ from Novell

1. Tell the story about this nominated product or service (up to 500 words). Describe its function, features, benefits, and sales to date. You may include hyperlinks to product photos and data sheets. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:

Market trends such as cloud computing are revolutionizing the way businesses
package, distribute and utilize software. In particular, software appliances
are transforming the way independent software vendors (ISVs) market and package
software as they simplify the installation and configuration of software,
eliminating unexpected costs and making the sales process frictionless. In
fact, IDC forecasts the software appliance market to grow to $1.18 billion by
2012. To address this market demand, Novell launched the SUSE® Appliance
Program in July 2009 – the first, complete, end-to-end solution that enables
ISVs to rapidly build, update, configure and go-to-market with fully-supported
software and virtual appliances.

Available as part of that program, SUSE Studio is an innovative, free, online
tool that allows developers to quickly build software appliances, pre-
configured combinations of an application, middleware and operating system
integrated into a single image and tailored to run on industry-standard
hardware. With SUSE Studio, users are able to build their own software
appliance with an application running on top of the SUSE Linux Enterprise
operating system.

The following quotes show the full extent of the industry's interest in SUSE
Studio since its launch in July 2009:

• "SUSE Studio from Novell has allowed us to efficiently create and manage
virtual appliances for over 20 different open source applications at our
BitNami.org website," said Erica Brescia, CEO at BitRock. "Integration with our
automated build and test system enables BitRock Custom Stack clients to benefit
from an additional deployment option.”

• "Infobright's mission is to deliver a simple, easy to use and powerful data
warehouse solution that can be immediately downloaded and deployed by users,"
said Bob Zurek, CTO at Infobright. "SUSE Studio takes this to the next level by
making it simple to create a virtual appliance that can be deployed anywhere
the user wants - whether it's on the user's premises or in the cloud."

• SUSE Studio handles appliance creation tasks better, by far, than any such
tool I've tested.” –
Jason Brooks, eWeek, July 31, 2009

• “It may be the most important thing Novell has done for software shops in
decades.” –
Dana Blankenhorn, ZDNet, July 28, 2009

• “How could Novell make a unique name for itself in the ISV market? The answer
potentially surfaced when Novell today launched the SUSE Appliance Program. The
VAR Guy must confess: Assuming the program works as advertised, our resident
blogger is impressed.” – Joe Paniettieri, The VAR Guy, July 28, 2009

• “This is a bold move by Novell, and great for the industry. Novell's SUSE
Studio Online sends a shot over the bow of proprietary software tools, pushing
the envelope on innovation.” – Matt Asay, CNET, July 28, 2009

2. List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, product reviews, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:

http://www.novell.com/news/press/novell-announces-industry2019s-first-solution-for-creating-and-deploying-fully-supported-software-appliances

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VL781Wf79pw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ff6nGiSdIw

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/IT-Management/eWEEK-Labs-Names-the-2009-Enterprise-IT-Products-of-the-Year-188670/

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Linux-and-Open-Source/REVIEW-SUSE-Studio-Is-a-Boon-for-Organizations-Using-Novells-Linux-Distros-682485/

http://www.networkworld.com/reviews/2010/032910-suse-studio-test.html

http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/linux/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=220100955

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10297225-16.html?tag=mncol

3. Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader(s) of the team that developed this nominated product or service:

Carlos Montero-Luque, Vice President of Business and Product Management for
Open Platform Solutions, Novell

Carlos Montero-Luque is the Vice President of Business and Product Management
for Open Platform Solutions at Novell, where he leads the team responsible for
Novell's Linux product portfolio. Prior to this role, Carlos was CTO of
Novell's Identity Business Unit and Vice President of Engineering for the
ZENworks product suite. Carlos joined Novell from the acquisition of Ximian.
Prior to Ximian, Carlos held a variety of positions in consulting and
engineering at companies such as Inktomi Corp., Cambridge Technology Partners,
Open Environment Corporation (acquired by Borland) and the Open Software
Foundation. Carlos holds a Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering from
MIT, a Master's Degree in Government from Harvard University, and is a GMP
graduate from Harvard Business School.