With this move, the university will be able to manage its network of 33,000 end users with fewer people, which will help them reduce costs and protect the themselves against potential downtime.

"Thanks to Novell Cluster Services, we can count on permanent availability,” said Eric Kerkdijk, Manager of Infrastructure & Telecom Management at Rotterdam University. “If for whatever reason one of the nodes malfunctions, the corresponding node in the other data center takes over its tasks without causing any interruption – every cluster-enabled service can be taken over by the other data center within a matter of seconds. In this way, Novell Cluster Services makes managing and maintaining the servers very easy.”

We believe in creating more productive and secure work environments that are easier to manage, and we love sharing real examples, like this one, on how our products impact people in real life scenarios.

Find out more by clicking here.

Six months ago in this post, I outlined Novell’s plans to demonstrate renewed focus and commitment to our customers. As you can see from this video from BrainShare 2011, our future is about getting back to basics. We’re refocused on our innovative and battle-tested technology. We’re rekindling relationships by listening to the needs of our long-time, loyal customers. And, we’ve returned to the innovation and engineering excellence that put Novell on the map.

Novell’s future is tied to how we deliver on our solutions and our word. So how have we delivered since July 2011?

Re: focus:

At BrainShare, we showcased detailed product roadmaps for how Novell plans to deliver more frequent releases of our core products.  You can get the roadmaps here. And mark your calendar for the next BrainShare, February 3-7, 2013 and join us in Salt Lake City.

In 2011 we committed to helping you optimize the value you derive from your current investments by enabling customers to upgrade to latest versions at their own pace.

We’ve lengthened Extended Support for NetWare 6.5 and Novell ZENworks 7 Suite by a year, and extended General Support for Novell GroupWise 8 and Novell BorderManager for the same time period. You can get more details on our Product Support Lifecycle portal here.

Also, we’re packing more value into the products you may already have: we added Novell Vibe and ZENworks Endpoint Security Management to the Novell Open Workgroup Suite and now offer a free Mac client to Novell Open Enterprise Server customers.

Re: turn:

Last year Novell invested in its engineering resources through hiring for its Provo, Utah headquarters. For example, since August 2011, Novell’s GroupWise engineering team grew by 33%. The result of our commitment to engineering excellence is reflected in the major product announcements we’ve made recently, including Open Enterprise Server 11, Novell Vibe 3.2, ZENworks Application Virtualization 9 and Novell GroupWise 2012.

Re: kindle:

We're re-energizing our customer relationships. Last year, for example, our collaborative DNA led to a new way to develop our solutions that put listening at the forefront. The GroupWise Roadmap Project—a global customer outreach program where we ask customers what innovations are most important to them—is helping us build and prioritize our collaboration roadmap. The results of this outreach program assure we’re developing our solutions based on what our customers need most to run their business.

And to keep our customers up-to-date and the conversation flowing, we’ve launched a dynamic and interactive roadmap application to illustrate the features and benefits of each released and planned version of GroupWise and collect input from you. Customers can select which version of GroupWise they currently have so they can instantly determine where they are on the roadmap and see what they’ll get by upgrading accordingly. They can also give us feedback and requests, which go directly to the product management team.

We have a bright and exciting future ahead in 2012. Our focus is first and foremost on customers. I’m looking forward to reporting to you regularly on what we’re doing to continue to earn your trust.

With Open Enterprise Server 11, customers will be able to:

+ Streamline management across one Linux platform–SUSE Linux Enterprise 11 SP1
+ Get improved update and patching performance
+ Do more with file storage, using enhanced storage management through Novell Linux Volume Manager
+ Enjoy improved VMware compatibility for virtualizing Open Enterprise Server
+ Regularly receive new features and enhancements via the new Feature Channel, eliminating the long wait for the next support pack
+ Join the preview program for Novell Filr–and be entitled to licenses once it ships

Novell Open Enterprise Server 11 is both a mature product and the platform for file and print innovation, satisfying customers all over the world.   Users are still working with files–in more ways on more devices–and Novell is leading the pack in delivering solutions that allow them the flexibility they need, while allowing IT to maintain organizational control.

Click here to read why IDC recommends Open Enterprise Server.

For more information on Open Enterprise Server 11, watch the video and read about the solution features at www.novell.com/oes.