HHS Signs Major Linux Deal With Novell

An anonymous reader writes "The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has signed a major deal with Novell to begin rolling out their enterprise server and desktop products on government systems. The contract provides unlimited use of Novell products to about 70,000 at HHS, including about 30,000 NIH users. Under the arrangement Novell is providing to HHS 'unlimited access, upgrade protection and technical support' for products, including SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, Novell Open Enterprise Server, Novell Linux Desktop, patch management, and a range of identity-based services for management, integration and security."

Comments

No surprise

[RocketRainbow]

Why is Novell so underrated? Their stuff works and it's the only consistently supported software around!

Re:No surprise

[malraid]

underrated? well i would say that novell's business strategy is

1- Create kick ass top of the line technology
2- Hide it as best as possible from customers
3- ????

Hopefully they're making some changes now. I still stand by my opinion that their directory and desktop management software is by far the best in the industry

Re:No surprise

[hey!]

Why is Novell so underrated? Their stuff works and it's the only consistently supported software around!

Well, simple,really.

Novell:Network::Apple:Desktop.

That is to say the solution everybody knows is better, but which can't overcome the inertia of the market. I literally knew Mac/Novell shops in the 1990s who were extremely happy with the choice, but decided to switch to Microsoft all around despite the fact they thought they had both higher productivity and lower TCO under the status quo. Talk about a Microsoft Tax!. They felt, however, Microsoft was an unstoppable juggernaut that would in the next several years obliterate Apple and Novell.

Well, guess, what? It didn't happen.

There's one B-school paradigm that looms large in people's minds, that needs to be rebutted; it's basically the paradigm for making decisions to go with inferior products: The VHS/Beta scenario. Superior quality has almost become a stigma.

So, for extra credit, show this:

not(Novell:Microsoft::Beta:VHS)

Re:No surprise

[hey!]

2- Hide it as best as possible from customers

Doesn't seem to me that they're hiding anything. They advertise nationally, both in the general media and in the trades,and have been all along. What would you do differently?

The problem is, the public wasn't buying Novell's message.

I think during the years of Novell's fall from being the leading network OS vendor, Microsoft had an unbeatable market position: we're thes convenient and safe vendor. Look how easy and spiffy our management GUI is, you can hired trained monkeys to admin your network and save a bundle. And you have to depend on us for everything else anyway, so there's no real risk. People assess risk by the information that is most conveniently at hand, which in this case was everybody else speculating how long it would take Novell to become Micrsoft roadkill. Knowledge of the risks posed by your network being run by trained monkeys driving a Ford Pinto with a glitzy paint job? Well, let's just say experience is the best teacher.

Novell's market position was a tougher sell: they produced for skilled network admins the equivalent of industrial machine tools for the skilled mechanic. And they were just about as glamorous. Of course, now things are different. If I were runnign Novell's marketing, my message would be the equivalent of saying, we're like your old steady girl friend you left for a hottie who turned out to secretly be a psychotic bitch. And by the way, we've been spending a lot of time in the gym, and your friends have been noticing.

I wonder....

[Crimson Dragon]

When it comes to large institutions and licensing with Linux vendors, a number of important questions are raised.

1. Is it profitable?
   While it can be said that the costs of usage in the corporate workplace of Linux is less than other environments, it can also be said the support costs are higher. The relevant quote in this case: "unlimited access, upgrade protection and technical support". While seemingly a good thing for bolstering Linux in this market, who knows in the end if that will cost Novell more than they can handle, and thereby discourage other vendors in this market from the kind of aggressive marketing they should be engaging in if they wish to expand.
2. The way in which this agreement is done could harm Linux in this environment overall.
   According to this article, HHS and NIH don't have to migrate from other platforms. While the kneejerk reaction could be "hooray, choice!", a different reaction could be that these products aren't getting a truly fair test in this market, that is to say, showing its robustness or lack thereof in the primary operating market. Time will tell, I suppose.

Just some thoughts.... I could be wrong.

I work at HHS

[Ranhert]

Kind of interesting. I work at HHS in Rockville, the second largest HHS building. We were running Novell for a long time but 2 months ago switched to Microsoft ADS. I wonder if this means we will be going back? If so, somebody is getting canned because most of the servers were down for long periods of time during the switch accumulating quite a bit of lost time and resources.

GNU/HHS

[rice_burners_suck]

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)...

No, no, no, you've got it all wrong. It's the GNU/US Department of Health and Human Services (GNU/HHS). I'm going to report this to the Free Software Foundation's Department of Making Sure GNU Appears Anywhere GNU/Linux is Used (GNU/RMS).

Novell to make Linux mature

[shane2uunet]

I remember a /. article a few years back stating that Novell was going to help Linux step into a mature contender in the Enterprise sphere. I laughed, because I viewed Novell as a has been, but now I have to eat my hat (it's red).

This is Good News...

[pschmied]

...for contractors such as myself whose clients include big civilian federal agencies.

I try to pitch open technologies when I can, but there is historical bias against open platforms like Linux. The more announcements like this happen, the easier it becomes to make a case for Linux/BSD on the server, and maybe some day on the desktop. I suspect that as a few of the more progressive agencies adopt Linux, the more conservative ones will follow.

Protecting Windows against the malware of the week in a big enterprise is a tough job. Enterprise system management is also a tough job without an army of foot soldiers who scurry around fixing breakages in software distribution system endpoints.

Linux/BSD starts looking pretty good when you start talking tens of thousands of machines to manage...

-Peter

They already signed the deal

[nystul555]

According to the article, my contacts at Novell, and Novell themselves - http://www.novell.com/news/press/item.jsp?contenti d=879a46d41fe14010VgnVCM1000000100007f____ , they have already signed the multi-million dollar deal. Novell has begun using it as part of their advertising campaign.

So are you saying they spent millions of dollars on a multi-year deal just to secure a better deal with Microsoft?

Wouldn't they have just threatened to go with Novell if they were trying to pressure Microsoft for a better price?