Linux Industry leaders Caldera International, Inc. (Nasdaq: CALD), Conectiva S.A., SUSE Linux AG, and Turbolinux, Inc., today announced the membership levels for partner participation in UnitedLinux, an initiative to streamline Linux development and certification around a global, uniform distribution of Linux designed for business. Membership in UnitedLinux is designated by two main categories, Linux Distributors and Developer Partners.
"HP is very excited about UnitedLinux and the benefits this group brings to our customers around the world," said Rick Becker, Software CTO vice president, OS Alliances, Industry Standard Servers, HP. "We plan to certify all servers, including our industry-leading ProLiant servers and Itanium 2 platforms, on this business focused offering."
"Fujitsu is dedicated to providing customers with enterprise Linux solutions," said Masaharu Kitaoka, General Manager, Linux Division, Fujitsu Limited. "We welcome the announcement of the framework by which solution vendors' and their customers' requirements will be reflected in the developments of UnitedLinux. Fujitsu will also continue to support the activities of UnitedLinux."
Linux Distributor Membership
The Linux Distributor Partner level is intended solely for companies that offer a Linux distribution, but need to offer a higher level of support to their customers and to offer derivative works from the UnitedLinux source base to meet specific customer demands. Partners will receive UnitedLinux marketing and resale rights and support, as well as general technical participation. They will adopt UnitedLinux 1.0 and be able to add the suffix "Powered by UnitedLinux" to their distribution. In addition, Partners will have a seat on the Board of Directors and the Technical Steering Committee, access to the UnitedLinux build environment and rights to build derivative works, and will share proceeds of profits.
Developer Membership Levels
Developer membership is categorized into three levels: Technical Advisory Board Member (TABM), Developing member and Developer Program member.
TABM: The TABM level is defined solely for those software and hardware providers who need to offer a higher level of support to their enterprise level customers. In addition, this level of membership is for those companies who are already investing significant development in Linux to ensure compatibility or optimization of their hardware and software offerings on the UnitedLinux source base. The TABM level provides access to the UnitedLinux build environment and coordinates all changes being integrated into the source code tree and regular maintenance releases. UnitedLinux will make best efforts to ensure that these enhancements and optimizations are included as part of the supported source code tree. TABMs will receive UnitedLinux marketing rights and support and will have a seat on the Technical Advisory Committee.
Developing Member: Similar to the TABM level, the Developing member level is for those companies who are already investing significant development in Linux to ensure compatibility or optimization of their hardware and software offerings on the UnitedLinux source base. These members want to ensure compatibility and need information, but they do not need to make support patches themselves or submit intrusive code changes that require special training to support their hardware or software offerings. Developing members are allowed participation in Advisory Board meetings, but are not voting members, and have a channel to request inclusion of features (e.g. drivers). They receive technical support certifying and testing software, as well as UnitedLinux marketing rights and support.
Developer Program: The Developer Program, designed to satisfy the needs of the individual developer or ISV, will be an additional low cost membership. The Program, further details of which will be released in the coming weeks, will provide information, software and services to developers to build a catalog of available applications and middleware for solution builders.
Membership Fees
All UnitedLinux members will pay annual sign-up fees to offset development costs, contribute marketing funds to help brand UnitedLinux, provide technical training and certification, and provide financial and business audits.
How To Get Involved
To get involved as a UnitedLinux member, contact Caldera, Conectiva, SuSE or Turbolinux or go to www.unitedlinux.com.
About UnitedLinux
UnitedLinux is a partnership of industry leading Linux companies combining their intellectual property, geographic mind share, sales, support and marketing expertise to produce a uniform distribution of Linux designed for business. UnitedLinux applies the collaborative development model of open source to the business model to enable a one-stop shop for developers, partners and customers to install, support and maintain quality business solutions based on Linux anywhere in the world. UnitedLinux is actively recruiting membership for both industry software developers and those who provide Linux as an integral part of their business solutions. For more information, visit www.unitedlinux.com.
About Novell
Novell, Inc. is a leading provider of information solutions that deliver secure identity management (Novell® Nsure™), Web application development (Novell exteNd™) and cross-platform networking services (Novell Nterprise™), all supported by strategic consulting and professional services (Novell NgageSM). Active in the open source community with its Ximian and SUSE Linux brands, Novell is firmly committed to open source and offers comprehensive Linux products and services for the enterprise, from the desktop to the server. Novell's vision of one Net - a world without information boundaries - helps customers realize the value of their information securely and economically. For more information, call Novell's Customer Response Center at (888) 321-4CRC (4272) or visit http://www.novell.com. Press should visit http://www.novell.com/pressroom.
Novell is a registered trademarks; Nsure, exteNd and Nteprise are trademarks; and Ngage is a service mark of Novell, Inc. in the United States and other countries. SUSE is a registered trademark of SUSE Linux AG. * All third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.