Novell’s New SUSE Linux Enterprise Hits Market

Novell  is making its latest flagship Linux applications, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) and SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop version 10 (SLED) available today.

Novell’s new enterprise Linux server includes the latest 2.6.16 Linux kernel among its updated applications. SLES 10 also marks the debut of the company’s AppArmor technology in its enterprise Linux distribution.

AppArmor provides enhanced security and is a competitive effort to Linux distributor Red Hat’s SELinux, which performs similar functions.

Virtualization by way of the open source Xen 3.0 hypervisor also debuts in this release. SLES 10 is now the first enterprise Linux distribution to include Xen.

Red Hat  is expected to follow suit when it releases Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 later this year.

Novell is updating its enterprise desktop offering with the simultaneous release of SLED 10, which it announced in March.

With the SLED 10 release, Novell is dropping its own name from the product, which was originally called Novell Linux desktop when it launched in 2004.

The new desktop will also look radically differently from its predecessors, thanks to Novel’s Xgl enhancements. Xgl provides an improved graphical user interface that includes a 3-D desktop.

SLED and SLES versions 11 are not expected for another 18 months, in keeping with Novell’s traditional enterprise Linux development cycle. The next versions will be based on Novell’s community OpenSUSE effort.

Unlike the enterprise versions of its product, the last community version of Novell SUSE Linux 10.1 was delayed.

The next version of Novell’s community Linux distribution is also getting a new name. Instead of SUSE Linux 10.2, its new moniker will be openSUSE 10.2. It is currently at its Alpha2 development milestone under the codename “Basilisk Lizard”.