Novell pushes Linux into China

Novell today moved to expand its presence in China and to promote Linux in the world's most populous nation with a raft of local investments. It also launched a dedicated Chinese language website for openSUSE, the open source project for the Novell SUSE Linux distribution announced August 9, 2005.

According to Novell, OpenSUSE will be the only fully localised project for a global Linux distribution in China. The website, OpenSUSE.org.cn, aims to offer Chinese and Asian Linux developers "a full-featured, easy to use gateway into the global open source community".

"Novell is committed to building a bridge between skilled programmers in China and Asia and the broader global open source community," said Dr Sen Ming Chang, managing director, Asia, and vice president, Asia Pacific, of Novell."

In addition, Novell unveiled plans to set up a research and development centre in China, open regional branches, develop a local technology support facility, and strengthen ties with local partners.

"Novell is increasing its investment in China because we believe we can have an enormous positive impact on economic growth in the region," said Jack Messman, chairman and CEO of Novell.

By the end of 2005, Novell promised to establish a research and development centre in Beijing as part of its global R&D infrastructure. The centre will focus on Linux desktop research and development, Linux internationalisation and localisation, and high performance Linux, including carrier-grade Linux.