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'Governments face challenges of security and scale that few other organizations face. They have more users and are privy to more sensitive information than any other type of organisation,' said John Goggin, senior vice president and director for government strategies at META Group, a leading provider of IT research, advisory services and strategic consulting. 'At the same time, they are under constant cost constraints, with "doing more with less" a recurring way of life. Many government organisations are looking to identity-driven solutions for process improvements and open source for resource savings that can be applied to critical programs that are currently underfunded.'

To that end Novell is working on customised products for government and public sector. It announced its Policy-based Citizen Portal which lowers the cost of making government online services available to those that need them, such as new residents, with a one-stop shop to securely access a range of government services.

The company also launched a Linux Migration Strategy and Services offering, so that governments can test and find out where they can benefit from moving to Linux.

'BrainShare Europe reflects a coming together of Novell's two strongest competencies, platforms and identity,' said Jack Messman, chairman and CEO of Novell. 'Novell is the leader in Linux and identity. We will continue to expand our leadership in both of these categories. And we will use that position to offer organisations more choices, more flexibility and more business value than

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ever before.'

On the identity side, Novell highlighted its directory management products such as Novell Virtual Directory Services that allows developers to create applications that integrate with other directories on the network already deployed. And Novell eDirectory 8.8 is soon to be launched in 'open beta' - it will include speedier installation and performance, several instancese can be run on a single server, and admins will be able to give incremental privileges to other users control over directories.

Novell also has added new modules - Designer for Nsure Identity Manager 2 and an Enhanced Provisioning Module - to its Nsure Identity Manager product to speed up the design and deployment of identity services within an organisation.

On the Linux side, the owner of the second largest Linux distribution SUSE, announced Zenworks 6.6 Linux Management, allowing centralised and granular control over software updates and is supports both SUSE and Red Hat server products.

But the flagship product is Novell's upcoming public beta of its Open Enterprise Server, which combines Novell's NetWare and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 operating systems with a common management interface along with Novell's identity and software management products, plus clustering support.

'Novell Open Enterprise Server truly gives enterprise customers flexibility in the way they deploy and manage their networking infrastructures,' said Messman. 'Novell and Open Enterprise Server provide the enterprise with an unparalleled software stack on top of the platform and a complete ecosystem to back it up, making it a total solution to rival any enterprise platform on the market.'

The public beta is expected in November, but there is as yet no date for the finished product.

Novell is also working to make the process of porting applications to Linux easier, with the creation of a Porting and Migration Network with its software and hardware partners. It is also building a Porting and Migration centre in Germany, where skilled consultants and a variety of hardware set ups are available to test out Linux ports of software.