After announcing plans to ship PCs with Ubuntu pre-installed, computer giant Dell has joined the Linux pact made between Microsoft and Novell.

Under the agreement, Dell will purchase SuSE Linux Enterprise Server certificates from Microsoft and establish a service and marketing programme to migrate existing Linux users who are not Dell Linux customers to SuSE Linux Enterprise Server.

The move makes Dell the first major systems provider to join the business collaboration formed by Microsoft and Novell in November in response to customer demand for greater interoperability and intellectual property assurance.

Rick Becker, vice president of solutions at Dell's Product Group, said: "Our customers have told us they want interoperability and expect technology vendors to work better together.

"Dell is the first major systems provider to align with Microsoft and Novell in this collaboration, and we intend to lead in this space."

The pact between Novell and Microsoft involved a series of agreements to jointly build, market and support new solutions to improve interoperability to make Microsoft and Novell products work better together.

"Dell's embracing of the Novell-Microsoft agreement reflects a growing market reality: the two platforms of the future are Linux and Windows, and customers want them to work better together," said Susan Heystee, vice president and general manager of global strategic alliances at Novell.