Windows, Linux: Bridging the divide

MUMBAI, INDIA: Enterprises are familiar with issues associated with working in heterogeneous environments. Late last year, on November 2nd, 2006, Microsoft and Novell signed a landmark agreement focused on bridging the worlds of proprietary and open source technology with a focus on to improving interoperability for mixed IT environments.

The Novell and Microsoft bridge is based on a foundation to expand innovation and collaboration through a mutual respect for intellectual property. As a result, both organizations will be collaborating on new technology over the coming year to help improve Windows and Linux interoperability in four areas: virtualization, systems management, directory integration and identity, and office documents formats. This technology will help customers reduce costs in their data centers, gain new levels of flexibility, and streamline operations, all with complete IP peace of mind.

Frost & Sullivan recently concluded a series of closed door roundtable discussions titled 'Re-exploring Interoperability' between Novell and Microsoft and a group of very select CTOs and CIOs. These roundtable sessions focused on addressing the key interoperability issues that users would have to deal with in mixed environments and key pain points customers would like vendors to address for greater interoperability.

This was a five-city series, which was held in Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad. The roundtable, which was moderated by Dr. Mohan, Director (Consulting), ICT practice, Frost & Sullivan, South Asia and Middle East, comprised Tom Cochran, IP&L Customer Advocacy, Microsoft; Richard Fanous, Microsoft Alliance Executive and Sandeep Menon, Director, Linux Business, Novell West Asia.

According to Dr. Mohan, "our objective behind organizing a series of Executive Roundtables is to discuss the benefits and challenges associated with Interoperability in a setting that allows for candid discussion about the same in light of Microsoft's and Novell's partnership"

Cochran says he is aware that to be successful, Microsoft's role must be to build a bridge to the open-source community. "Our relationship with Novell is important for several reasons. Through our TCA (Technical Collaboration Agreement) we are delivering solutions that allow you to deploy Microsoft/Novell solutions that work better together in the areas of virtualization, systems management, directory federation and document compatibility." He continued by stating "it's also important to note that Microsoft and Novell have created a new model for sharing valuable intellectual property that respects the diversity of one another's business models and it's this respect that allows our relationship to exist." Customers not only benefit from the tangible results of the TCA, but also from an assurance, secured through a legal covenant, that they are not subject to patent assertion by either company.

Mr. Sandeep Menon, Director, Linux Business, Novell West Asia, opines, "I believe Novell has made a brave move in acknowledging that mixed environments are a reality. Customers will very often need to use both Windows, as well as Linux for specific deployments. And it is incumbent on us to ensure that customers do not suffer through interoperability issues. In that sense, this move to ensure interoperability clearly drives customer benefit. And the best proof point today is the work that has been done in allowing the two operating systems to co-exist efficiently, in virtualized environments, even on a single system."

According to Vikram Dhanda, Head IT, India and Sri Lanka, Virtusa (India) Pvt Ltd., who attended the Hyderabad roundtable series, "Interoperability has been a tough hurdle to overcome. The Microsoft and Novell alliance provides a middle of the road option to address disparate homogeneity."

Commenting on the alliance Pankaj Sindhu, Director, IT, Fulford (India) Limited stated, "I am happy to see this alliance as an enterprise user. This alliance will give us a bigger scale to operate and bring down our total cost of ownership."

Concluding the roundtable discussions, Dr. Mohan, Director (Consulting), ICT Practice from Frost & Sullivan said, "It is a significant development. Coming together of world's largest OS player (Microsoft) and the more popular Linux (Novell) signals a new chapter in how vendors work together to address interoperability between proprietary and open-source products. It has the potential to change how the IT landscape will emerge over the years to come."