Dell will install Novell's SuSE Linux operating system on Dell PowerEdge servers as part of a worldwide agreement, the companies announced last week.

Novell's SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 will be available on PowerEdge 1850, 2800 and 2850 servers for an annual subscription per single-CPU server for $192 or $202.

For its part, Dell already pre-installed market-leader Red Hat Linux from Red Hat. Although Dell offered SuSE Linux, it only did so as a customized system option for which customers paid extra.

Dell and Novell began working together last year, and the two companies announced a bundling deal last summer.

"It's pragmatic for Dell because Novell has a strong existing customer base, and they are now basically offering customers a choice of the two distributions," says Neil Macehiter, a research director at Ovum.

Novell gained the SuSE Linux kernel with its January acquisition of German company SuSE Linux.

Rohde is a correspondent with the IDG News Service.