Novell has revealed details of the next version of its flagship SuSE Linux Enterprise 11 platform.

The firm said that, as a desktop-to-data centre platform, SuSE Linux Enterprise 11 will work on a variety of products designed for use across the enterprise, from edge and infrastructure servers, to data centre and real-time servers.

SuSE Linux Enterprise 11 will also run on desktops in thick- and thin-client modes and technical workstations.

Novell plans to make the platform available as an appliance, while an embedded version will allow independent hardware vendors to embed virtualisation and operating systems directly into their hardware.

The vendor plans to introduce new features to support appliance development and low-latency computing, along with support for high availability and advanced interconnects like Infiniband.

Novell added that the platform will also further cement its plans for interoperability, with a new focus on Windows optimisation, including advances in support for Windows Server 2008 virtual guests, systems management and rich internet application support.

The combination of virtualisation and new power management capabilities for chips and disk drives should enable customers to reduce their server footprint and substantially lower the cost of running data centres, Novell said.

Roger Levy, senior vice president and general manager of open platform solutions at Novell, said: "We listened closely to our customers, partners and colleagues in the open source community as we designed the next generation of Linux operating systems."