BMW and Audi drive SUSE Linux

You could spend a lot of money on proprietary virtualization technology and run it on UNIX. Or you could get the same (or better) performance out of Xen on Linux, like Audi and BMW are doing. As Softpedia writes:

BMW and Audi car makers rely on Novell’s SuSE Linux Enterprise Edition Server (SLED) for maintaining their data center. BMW Group combined SuSE’s Linux with the Xen virtualisation software on its servers equipped with Intel x86 dual-core processors. As the results seemed to be highly promising so far, BMW stated that it also considers taking a chance on Novell ZENworks Orchestrator, for managing its virtual data center system.

And here’s a bit more detail on BMW from Novell’s press release:

According to BMW, Xen virtualization technology built into SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 will allow the company to increase flexibility in managing server life cycles. BMW will also gain operational and cost advantages in other areas, in addition to having a flatter support structure through the integrated operating system and virtualization layer. Hardware resources can be more efficiently used through server consolidation, and BMW is able to cluster virtual servers and migrate them live from one physical server to another as needed. The company is also currently evaluating Novell ZENworks® Orchestrator as a way to manage the resulting virtual data center systems.

Finally, Novell is getting down the “value message” that Red Hat has been trumpeting for some time. It’s about lowering costs, yes, but also about improving efficiency and productivity. If Novell can keep this up – and stop distracting itself with Microsoft coupons – it just may turn the corner and become a real company again. News like this indicates it has come a long way.