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Regardless of a recent move by The SCO Group to block Novell Inc.s acquisition of SuSE Linux AG, SuSE continues to evolve its product lines. The company on Tuesday released a service pack for its Linux server package and announced new partnerships.
SuSE released Service Pack 3 for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 8, which updates the core of the operating system to the 2.4.21 kernel and includes better support for hard drives arrays, storage area networks and network-attached storage. According to Joseph Eckert, SuSEs vice-president of corporate communications, with the update database access speeds will be accelerated by as much as 25 percent.
The update also provides various minor improvements to driver support and security. Service Pack 3 also lets SLES support the newest member of the IBM eServer family: the PowerPC 970-powered BladeCenter JS20. Current owners of SLES can download the patch without additional charges.
SuSE also released SuSE 9 for free download. This desktop/low-end server Linux has been available on retail outlets and resellers for a month. This free edition is functionally the same as the commercial version except it lacks a few minor, copyrighted files and it comes without support, the company said.
The Nuremberg, Germany, company is also finding new partners for its products even before the Novell deal is consummated. Last week, for example, SuSE made a deal with Gateway Inc. of Poway, Calif., to supply the PC maker with SLES and SuSE 9 for its new small- and mid-sized-business lines.
Holger Dyroff, SuSEs general manager for the Americas, said at last weeks CDXPO show in Las Vegas that SuSE is “continuing to work with other hardware vendors to bundle SuSE both on the server and desktop levels.”