The Premium Service support program is divided into four different packages: Premium Service, SuSE Linux Server Support, Novell Linux Small Business Support, and Remote and Managed Services.

The service is meant for customers who need a high level of customized services for their mission-critical systems. But within it, the package provides a variety of service levels.

The SuSE Linux Server Support is meant for customers who run only a handful of standalone SuSE Linux servers. A hosting company, for example, might be right for this package.

Just like the name says, Novell Linux Small Business Support is for small businesses. The program for companies with relatively small Linux deployments will deliver technical support on Novell Red Carpet Enterprise, Novell SuSE LINUX Enterprise and Standard Server, Desktop and OpenExchange Server, and the Novell Ximian Desktop and Evolution Connector for Microsoft Exchange.

The Remote and Managed Services, which provides remote system monitoring, also might work for small-business customers. But with its emphasis on remote management by Novell staff, it's the least interesting to resellers or integrators.

"Customers have long relied on Novell to provide enterprise-class support services for mission-critical environments," Bob Couture, vice president of worldwide services at Novell, said in a statement. "Now, they can depend on Novell to provide that same level of service as they adopt Linux technologies within their business.

"Novell's recent acquisitions of Ximian and SuSE, as well as our strategic partnerships with IBM, HP and others, have helped Novell create a trained, experienced force of hundreds of Linux experts, and our global reach means help is literally around the corner for customers who need it."

Click here to read eWEEK Labs' review of the latest version of SuSE Linux.

Dan Kusnetzky, program vice president of systems software at IDC, said, "It's clear that Novell is viewing the market from a broad horizontal perspective."

"Novell has products and services which can act as the glue holding distributed applications together in a safe, manageable and secure way," Kusnetzky said. "It sees Linux as a deployment platform for those products and services rather than an end in itself.

"We can expect to see an enhanced series of offerings from Novell which tie together the desktop offerings of Ximian, the operating environments and products from SuSE, the development and deployment tools of Silver Stream—all integrated using Novell's directory, management and configuration software, its security software, combined with offerings from its professional services organization," he said.