SP1 for SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 improves virtualization, security

Novell’s first service pack for SUSE Linux Enterprise 10, released Monday for download, provides enhanced virtualization, better security, and additional high performance support.

Along with the SP, Novell also released a Xen-compatible driver pack that will “enable unmodified Windows and Linux guest operating systems to run with near native performance in virtual environments,” according to the press release. Virtualization allows several different operating systems to run on a single piece of hardware. A Novell press release earlier this month described how the BMW Group is using SUSE Linux Enterprise Server with integrated Xen to reduce hardware costs in its data center.

SP1 also includes enhanced security features and expanded support for high performance processors such as Quad-Core Intel Xeon and Quad-Core AMD Opteron. For the desktop, there is expanded OpenOffice.org support and what Novell describes as “an updated desktop user experience, along with a desktop virtualization technology preview and advances in enterprise integration capabilities.”

Shirl Kennedy is the senior editor of theDocuTickerandResourceShelfweblogs as well as the “Internet Waves” columnist forInformation Today. She has been writing about technology since 1992.