Novell's SUSE Linux Enterprise Server is the first Linux to support all IBM hardware platforms, including the first on IBM POWER and IBM zSeries

This single subscription will cover all blades within the BladeCenter chassis, regardless of CPU type or quantity, and aims to help lower the cost and complexity of procuring and licensing Linux for blade server environments.

This new chassis subscription model will help customers maintain control over the cost of computing, by potentially reducing subscription administration requirements and the need for separate subscriptions on each blade server. By creating a simple-to-administer and flexible environment, users will be able to configure, re-provision and expand on demand within an IBM BladeCenter chassis with up to 14 blade servers without having to purchase additional subscriptions to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.

Customers can mix-and-match any number of blade servers with Intel®, AMD® and Power-based CPUs in a single chassis with this single subscription. This subscription model will help customers quickly and efficiently implement scalable, multi-tier and heterogeneous Linux workloads.

"This is another big step by Novell and IBM in offering our customers a great choice of platforms to run their core business services more cost effectively. With all the major applications running on SUSE Linux today, our clients can choose between Intel, AMD and even POWER or all, in one BladeCenter, without having to worry about which operating system will work. With this promotion, we are giving our customers a good reason to change, now." Said, Gerard Mcdonnell, IBM Global Alliance Director - EMEA.

For partners who are looking at providing solutions to solve customers' business problems, this combination helps to achieve their goal easily. This is a fantastic way to subscribe to Linux on the IBM BladeCentre platform. Unlike competitive offerings which bundle multiple traditional server subscriptions and tie them to chassis orders, IBM's BladeCenter chassis subscription is a complete chassis subscription and will help further reduce the cost and complexity of implementing Linux-based solutions and workloads.

**Recent second quarter 2005 market share results show that IBM BladeCenter has been the leading blade server in the industry for eight successive quarters. *IBM was also number one in overall Linux-based server revenue worldwide in the second quarter of 2005. Middle East Market is no exception and has shown considerable and consistent demand for these BladeCentres.

"With this new BladeCenter chassis subscription, we are enabling customers to simply and flexibly manage their IT infrastructure at potentially reduced overall cost. Our work with IBM aligns with the current industry trend to simplify data centers and overall infrastructure management. Unlike competitive offerings which simply bundle existing server subscriptions, the new Novell® and IBM subscription model offers advantages for heterogeneous environments and virtualization needs, allowing customers to customize their data centers while potentially lowering the system's total cost of ownership." said GM, Novell Middle east, Gordon Ratcliffe.