Novell announced Invitrogen has selected SUSE Linux Enterprise as the core operating platform to standardize and virtualize the company's servers. A global provider of essential life science technologies for research, production and diagnostics, Invitrogen conducts business in more than 70 countries and offers 35,000 products and services. With the flexibility of SUSE Linux Enterprise from Novell, the company will reduce server licensing costs, virtualize with support on the VMware platform and simplify migration from Windows and UNIX servers to Linux.

"We evaluated several Linux distributions and chose SUSE Linux Enterprise because it was the most cost-effective and flexible operating system," said John Merritt, system architect at Invitrogen. "In addition, we look forward to leveraging the Virtual Machine Interface (VMI)-enabled kernel, which will give us better performance when running on the VMware virtualization platform."

SUSE Linux Enterprise will allow Invitrogen to more easily manage its complex IT environment, consisting of a mix of different platforms and applications including HP servers, Oracle databases and Web servers, as well as PeopleSoft ERP applications comprised of e-commerce, human resources, payroll and customer relationship management. SUSE Linux Enterprise gives the company the flexibility to run its applications on any platform and better utilize hardware through cost-effective virtualization.

Invitrogen is also working with PlateSpin, a Novell company that helps enterprises manage and extend their use of server virtualization in the data center, for physical-to-physical migration and Linux physical-to-virtual server migration. The combination of PlateSpin data center management software and SUSE Linux Enterprise helps companies maximize their IT investments by leveraging Novell's broad virtualization capabilities.

"SUSE Linux Enterprise can add value to a dynamic organization, such as Invitrogen, looking to minimize cost and complexity," said Roger Levy, senior vice president and general manager of Open Platform Solutions at Novell. "Novell's technology direction, market leadership, continued investment in Linux, and focus on virtualization make it the industry's most compelling Linux vendor. We offer a mature and stable Linux distribution, complete with training and implementation services, enabling our customers to get the most out of their IT investments."