Fujitsu Siemens Computers and Novell sign Blade server partnership

- Expanding the application and management tools for PRIMERGY BX300 Blade servers

Fujitsu Siemens Computers has named Novell Inc. as an 'Alliance Partner' for delivering the newly announced NetWare 6.5 and exteNd products for Blade servers. In an agreement signed by the two companies, Novell will develop, certify, and market NetWare and exteNd software products designed to support Fujitsu Siemens Computers' PRIMERGY BX300 Blade servers. The combination of NetWare 6.5 and these high-density servers can significantly reduce management costs and network complexity through server consolidation.
 
"This partnership emphasises Novell's position as a leading player in the network services platform market, and extends NetWare's functionality beyond its infrastructure strengths and into the application and web services environment," said Wayne Parslow, Novell's Director of Global Alliances.
 
"Today, low cost of operation is key for scaling out the performance with multiple servers in a professional IT infrastructure," said Peter Jilek, Vice President Enterprise Products at Fujitsu Siemens Computers. "Novell products offer ideal services for our loyal NetWare customers, who rely on proven solutions. This agreement establishes Novell as a leading provider of directory and web services software."
 
NetWare 6.5 includes the J2EE-certified Novell exteNd Application Server and development environment, supporting the needs of enterprises that need to re-design existing information and processes from legacy systems into a new array of web services applications. Additionally, NetWare customers will benefit from the inclusion of open source technologies such as MySQL, Perl, PHP and Tomcat. A further benefit of this offering is the inclusion of Apache's web server software which leverages Novell's eDirectory functionality, making it possible to simplify the management of Apache web server farms running simultaneously on Fujitsu Siemens Computers' Blade servers.
 
The PRIMERGY BX300 Blade Server currently offers the market-leading Blade server technology in terms of density and infrastructure integration. Highly scalable web server and application server scenarios are the key usage areas, for which this product provides significant cost savings for installation, power consumption and space in the data centre. There is room for as many as 20 server blades on one BX300 server, and the whole system requires no more than three vertical units within a rack. This makes it possible to run up to 300 servers with up to 600 processors in a single 19-inch rack. Highest integration and excellent dual-CPU performance make it the leading blade server solution for today's scale-out infrastructure in typical front-end tiers.
 
Fujitsu Siemens Computers' blade partnership programme is a co-operation with leading and specialised companies to deliver a complete solution for blade servers with regard to scalability (F5 Networks), security (AEP), high availability (APC) operating systems, web and terminal services (Citrix, Microsoft, Novell, Red Hat), storage (Network Appliance) and low cost of operation (Altiris).
 
About Fujitsu Siemens Computers:
Fujitsu Siemens Computers is the leading European computer company, supporting customers' growing demands for Business Critical and Mobility solutions. The company draws on the strengths and innovation of its parent companies - Fujitsu Limited and Siemens AG - who have a joint R&D spend equivalent to €9 billion per year. Fujitsu Siemens Computers provides its customers with one of the industry's most comprehensive IT product ranges - from PDAs through to the data centre - giving them the choices they need to make real IT infrastructure savings. The company offers Solaris-based PRIMEPOWER UNIX servers for the data centre, best-in-class PRIMERGY Intel-based systems, and a full range of enterprise storage solutions. Fujitsu Siemens Computers is also one of the leading providers of professional PCs, workstations and secure mobile computing products - including PDAs, notebooks and Tablet PCs - to business customers, and is Europe's leading supplier of PCs for home users and small offices.
 
For further information, please visit: www.fujitsu-siemens.com.
 
UK Press Office
Marisa Reynolds / Emeshe Coop
Fujitsu Siemens Computers
Tel: 01344 47 5811
E-mail: ukpressoffice@fujitsu-siemens.com