SuSE to offer SMB server edition Nov

Linux vendor SuSE will ship a US$449 standard edition of its Linux server software for the SMB market in November.

SuSE claimed its Linux Standard Server 8 would support AMD and Intel 32-bit processors, two-way multiprocessing, internet access, e-mail, file and print services and graphical configuration wizards to simplify setup.

The software allowed the server to operate as a Windows domain controller and DNS server and included web-based remote administration and web-based access to mobile users, the company said.

The standard server edition was based on the company's Enterprise 8 server code released in January but lacked 64-bit support, the company said.

SuSE rival Red Hat launched a departmental/workgroup server edition earlier this year. The SCO Group also launched an SMB-oriented Linux server package before abandoning the Linux market this year.

SMBs are considered rich pickings in the US but most Linux vendors still focus on the enterprise sector. Red Hat had planned to launch a major channel program this year to drive SMB business, but decided the market was still too immatures, Red Hat recently said.

At LinuxWorld in the US in August, IBM and HP unveiled channel programs designed to push Linux more aggressively into the SMB space. SuSE launched a US channel program last spring.

However, many vendors believe most Linux action is in the enterprise.

One software reseller said it was hard to assess the pickup of Linux in SMBs.

"Linux interest is difficult to measure since the nature of the Linux code is open source and distributed over the web," said Paul Jarvie, president of large account US reseller ASAP Software. "We continue to make in-roads into the SMB but have yet to see a demand for Linux software. "