Novell Wednesday released the beta of its new "Just Enough" SUSE operating system targeted as a platform for Linux-based appliances.

The company is releasing the beta in conjunction with the creation of the SUSE Appliance Program targeted at independent software vendors (ISV) who want to package their applications with SUSE Linux on an appliance.

In March, Novell unveiled a strategy that focuses on providing modular network infrastructure services to corporations including distributions of its core OS software tuned for physical or virtual servers. The services, which can be plugged together, also include virtualization, orchestration, policy, identity, compliance, management and collaboration tools.

"The appliance initiative is not necessarily front and center as part of the overall strategy so I don't see it as a main building block but it will become one over time," says Al Gillen, an analyst with IDC. "It is very much a step in the right direction."

The Just Enough Operating System (JeOS), which is available now in beta, is a version of SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 SP2 that is reduced to just the components needed to run any given application and/or its third-party components.

“I think the interesting contrast here between Linux and Windows is that this is a business model Microsoft is having trouble embracing,” says Nat Friedman, chief technology and strategy officer for open source at Novell. “The idea of letting someone componentize the Windows server and stick it under an application is not happening today. We think Linux is out front on this appliance issue.”

The JeOS beta is available in several virtual image formats, including VMware VMDK, Xen and as a raw hard disk image. Novell plans to release later this year a Microsoft VHD format that will run on Windows Hyper-V, which is slated to ship in the fall. Users can install the operating system on a server or in a virtual environment.

Novell said that ISVs whose applications are certified to run on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server would be able to carry those certifications onto JeOS.In addition, Novell said it would participate in the LimeJeOS project, which is building a slimmed-down version of openSuse Linux.

As part of the SUSE Appliance Program, ISV's will be able to create appliances that can run on x86 hardware or as virtual machines.

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