Began bundling Xen open-source virtualization products as well as those from Virtual Iron in 2006, positioning its version of SUSE Linux as a reliable operating system platform for virtual servers.

In addition to developing and selling the Xen hypervisor with its own products, Novell has been a key ally of both Microsoft and VMware in the virtualization market. Its Linux-Windows virtualization-integration efforts and cross-platform management products have helped Microsoft keep its toehold in the virtualization market while waiting for the release of its own Hyper-V. Novell is one of the few virtualization vendors whose strategy clearly includes more than one OS. It made its big virtualization acquisition in February; but rather than buying a hypervisor developer, as Citrix did, it bought Toronto-based Platespin, which makes workload-management applications and tools to help companies migrate to virtualized data centers. VMware gives away similar migration tools, but some analysts believe Novell's relative neutrality in a market increasingly polarized as Microsoft vs. VMware may serve it well as it focuses on management instead of platforms.

• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
• ZENworks Orchestrator
• ZENworks Virtual Machine Management