Initiative Brings Multi-station SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktops to Schools and Universities

Going green is become a crucial necessity today and several schools and universities are attempting to rationalize IT expenses by switching to multi-station computers, where one PC can support up to ten independent users with just a USB, monitor, keyboard and mouse.

 

Multi-station SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktops is one such offering which is a low-costing, eco-friendly, stand-alone Windows desktops contributing to Green computing.

 

Omni and Userful announced on Wednesday that over 50 academic institutions from 29 US States and 10 countries worldwide have signed up to deploy Multi-station SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktops through the "Free the Penguins" education initiative.

 

Omni is a company that has been creating and marketing a portfolio of management, security, mobility, messaging and Linux software products for enterprise network users of Novell (News - Alert), GroupWise, SUSE Linux and mixed Novell and Microsoft networks. The company along with Userful,

 

Userful offers sustainable desktop computing. The company is the developer of the Userful Multiplier

 

SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop, a product of Novell, is the enterprise-quality Linux desktop. The Multiplied Linux Desktop works with extra video cards, a powered USB hub and the Linux Desktop Multiplier, a software add-on developed by Userful to run up to 10 full-featured user sessions at the same time on a single computer.

 

"Free the Penguins" is a free computer lab promotion launched by Omni, Userful and Novell in September to bring Multi-station SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktops for computer labs, classrooms and libraries globally.

 

"Few education customers, particularly in these tough economic times, will say no to a strategy that will allow them to deploy over twice as many desktops for the same budget," said Trevor Poapst, director of Global Marketing at Omni. “An open source, Linux-based alternative is something all schools should consider."

 

"We are very pleased with the response to the 'Free the Penguins' initiative," said, Tim Griffin, chief executive officer at Userful.

 

According to Griffin, this is an ideal opportunity for schools to save 9/10ths of their hardware and maintenance costs.

 

"The strong, global uptake we've seen thus far with 'Free the Penguins' is a testament to the value that SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop is bringing to schools and we look forward to working with Omni and Userful in the next phase of this program,” said, Grant Ho, senior product marketing manager for SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop at Novell.