Novell Ships Netware-Linux Combo Server Software

"Open Enterprise Server protects the prior investment that customers made in NetWare and extends to them the flexibility of Linux," said Jack Messman, Novell's chief executive, in a statement. "Only Novell is offering software from both the open source and commercial spectrums to allow customers choice."

One of the ways firms can use Open Enterprise Server is to group NetWare and Linux servers in the same cluster, making it easier to migrate from the former to the latter at a measured pace, said Novell.

Pricing for Open Enterprise Server ranges from $530 for five users as an upgrade from earlier versions of Netware or rival's server software, to $18,400 for 100 users in a new deployment.