Intel And Novell Planning Netbook Linux Platform

Darryl K. Taft,

Novell announced it will create a Moblin-based product for netbooks that it will push to OEMs and ODMs.

Intel and Novell have announced plans to extend their existing collaboration around the Moblin open-source Linux mobile platform.

The two companies signed an agreement outlining their plans for collaboration, including efforts to promote the adoption of Moblin among original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and original design manufacturers (ODMs). Moblin is an optimised Linux platform for delivering rich Internet experiences on Intel Atom processor-based netbooks and other mobile systems.

Novell also said it will establish Novell Open Labs in Taiwan to foster the adoption of Moblin and will work with the Taiwan Moblin Enabling Center (MEC), a joint effort of Intel and the Taiwan Institute for Information Industry, to validate designs for Moblin compliance.

Intel launched Moblin in 2007 and incubated the effort until last month when the Linux Foundation became host of the community. Intel continues to contribute key technologies and work with the developer community to advance the effort. Novell began contributing to the Moblin project last October.

Novell joined the Moblin effort in late 2008. Doug Fisher, vice president of Intel’s Software and Services Group and general manager of the company’s System Software Division, said, “The combination of Intel Atom processor-based platforms and Moblin-based Novell software will provide even more opportunities for OEMs, ODMs and the broader Moblin community to deliver excellent mobile Internet solutions.”

Novell’s contributions to the Moblin ecosystem include leading the open-source development of key operating system features such as window, e-mail and media management.

“We are extending our involvement with Moblin because we believe that it provides a richer mobile Internet experience,” said Ron Hovsepian, Novell president and CEO, in a statement. “The emergence of such mobile computing platforms as netbooks presents a significant growth opportunity. We believe that Moblin-based Novell software on Intel-based platforms will offer OEMs and ODMs exceptional solutions for delivering a full Internet experience on such devices.”