Click here to receive your FREE subscription to Campus Technology
News
Microsoft Faces Skeptics at Open Source Conference
4/8/2008
Nearly a year and a half after striking their improbable alliance to provide better interoperability between open source and Windows-based platforms, Microsoft and Novell told developers last week that the pact has yielded technical benefits but there's still work to be completed, particularly on the interoperability between the two companies' enterprise directory platforms.
Representatives of both companies provided a status report of their collaboration at the annual Linux/Open Source on Wall Street conference held in New York this week. Microsoft says it has sold more than 100,000 SuSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) licenses to about 60 large enterprise customers, among them Credit Suisse, HSBC, Synovus Financial Corp., and Wal-Mart.
"We've learned a lot," said Peter Rodriques, Microsoft's director of customer advocacy and licensing, during his opening remarks. "For the most part, it's been incredibly successful in terms of feedback in the business community and technical communities."
In an interview, Rodriques added that Microsoft's pact with Novell helped set the stage for Redmond's interoperability pledge, made in February.
Virtual Progress
Microsoft and Novell have identified four key goals in their technical collaboration
agreement (TCA). To date, the companies have made the most progress in ensuring
both platforms work in virtualized environments so that Windows Server is recognized
on an SLES host and vice versa, said Jose Thomas, a senior technical evangelist
at Microsoft. The other three areas of focus include common systems management,
interoperability of Microsoft's Active Directory with Novell's eDirectory, and
document format compatibility.
Thomas demonstrated SLES running as a virtual machine on a Windows Server 2008 host and underscored that the same interoperability works in the reverse scenario. The goal, according to Thomas, was for Windows to run as a "fully enlightened" guest on SLES and vice versa. The demo used a beta version of Microsoft's much-anticipated Hyper-V hypervisor.
"The hypervisor treats the SuSE operating system just like it treats Windows, which is great because from a performance perspective, you're at par," Thomas said. "But on top of that, from a management perspective, from a reporting capability, all of the things that the hypervisor is doing from Windows, you can go ahead and do for SuSE, as well."
The two companies jointly developed adaptors to achieve that result, Thomas added. To address systems management, however, the two companies for now are focusing more on the Web services standard WS-Management protocol.
Recommended Reading
- California Community Colleges Partner with Waterfall Mobile on Statewide Emergency Notification Coverage
The Foundation for California Community Colleges (FCCC) has awarded a statewide emergency alert notification contract to Waterfall Mobile. The contract establishes Waterfall's AlertU as an approved technology through the official non-profit foundation for the California Community College (CCC) system office. Through this partnership, individual colleges may directly implement emergency communication services, eliminating lengthy technology evaluation and RFP processes.
- King's College and ASU Add e2Campus for Improved Emergency Notifications
King's College and Arizona State University have switched to Omnilert's e2Campus for emergency notification. Omnilert also has introduced a new program called the ENS Conversion Service that allows schools to bulk upload data from their previous emergency notification system into e2Campus at no charge.
- Saint Joseph Builds Out Wireless Network in Multi-year Upgrade
Saint Joseph's University has begun deploying a Meru Networks wireless local area network across its Philadelphia campus as part of a multi-year effort to bring wireless coverage to every building on campus.
- Vista Ramp Up Is Happening Now, Study Says
Organizations may have been slow to adopt Microsoft Windows Vista, but expect that to change by late 2008 to 2009, according to a Forrester Research report by Benjamin Gray et al., published last week.
- Talisma Launches New Version of CRM with Built-in Application Management
Talisma Corp. announced version 8.0 of its constituent relationship management (CRM) application for higher education. The new release includes application management, a revamped user interface, two-way text messaging, personalized Web portals, and an ADA-compliant Web client, among other enhancements.
- Bringing Composers into Classrooms Through Skype
Two Pennsylvania teaching colleagues with an interest in music and technology are bringing remote experts into classrooms at almost no cost, using Skype's free videoconferencing technology.
