Linux vendor Novell said it is now providing comprehensive technical support for JBoss open source software.
According to Novell, the support for the JBoss software positions it as the only Linux infrastructure vendor to provide JBoss support, and not just to customers of Novell’s SUSE Linux distribution.
The Waltham, Mass., software company said it would provide worldwide 24/7 technical support for JBoss software products on any operating platform.
JBoss has a group of open source projects under one software platform called the JBoss Enterprise Middleware System (JEMS). The middleware platform includes the organization’s popular JBoss Application Server as well as other projects like Hibernate, JBoss Portal and the JBoss Eclipse IDE.
Although the software is available as a free download, support comes with a price. Many companies are squeamish about implementing an application enterprise-wide without guaranteed support to back up the product.
Beyond the popularity of its application server, JBoss has made a name for itself by providing professional open source services to companies worldwide and selling support services around the open source software it promotes.
Novell’s partnership hit full stride with JBoss in March, when the commercial Linux vendor announced it would contribute engineering resources and code to build up the JEMS suite, as well as participate in future JBoss projects. The agreement also let JBoss bundle the JBoss Application Server into Novell’s SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 by default.
In June, JBoss expanded its partner program to make it more partner-friendly. The program is broken down into four areas — certified solution partner, certified technology partner, certified systems integrators and authorized service partners.
Novell is one of JBoss’ eight premier technology partners; the others include Computer Associates , Hewlett-Packard
, Unisys
and Telcordia.
In related news, Novell officials announced Tuesday they had validated the first high performance computing (HPC) solution under its Validated Configuration Program. The mixed hardware/software offering is made up of HP’s BladeSystem, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and additional third-party components. Novell started the program in May to give enterprise customers an optimized hardware and software configuration that is certified to work in a large network setting.
