Novell woos developers with SUSE appliance tools

The SUSE Appliance Program aims to simplify the development and release of applications

Novell has unveiled new tools and services designed to help independent vendors go to market with Linux software offerings.

The SUSE Appliance Program is an extension of the firm's current offerings, and lets developers build and test software stacks and transform the way they develop and release applications.

Novell is providing a wide range of tools, including SUSE Studio Online, a web-based application for building software appliances "in minutes", SUSE Linux Enterprise JeOS, a pre-formatted configuration of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, and a version of the SUSE Linux Enterprise designed to operate in Amazon's EC2 cloud platform.

"The SUSE Appliance Program makes it easy for independent software vendors [ISVs] to deploy applications in the cloud, get to market faster and reduce support costs for themselves and their customers," said Markus Rex, senior vice president and general manager of Novell Open Platform Solutions.

"Novell has taken all of our knowledge about how to build and customise an operating system and captured it for ISVs in one unique programme. ISVs do not need to be experts in Linux distributions to build their own solutions."

The news was welcomed by companies working with SUSE software, including Novell partner IBM.

"Software appliances can help simplify IT for small and medium businesses, helping them to focus on their customers while saving money," said Bob Sutor, vice president of open source and Linux at IBM Software.

"We think the easy to use and deploy software appliances such as Lotus Foundations built on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and IBM software present compelling sales opportunities for our business partners. They are now free to focus on what they do best: create a better software experience for their customers."

Novell is also offering marketing and pricing help, as well as evaluation services for completed applications. Other supporting tools will be released later this year.

SUSE Studio and SUSE Linux Enterprise JeOS are both free and available now. Also out now is SUSE Linux Enterprise for Amazon EC2, which is priced at approximately £14 a month.