34 years of openness: Our journey, our values, and the road ahead

Key takeaways

• SUSE’s 34-year journey is defined by an unwavering commitment to open source and collaborative innovation.

• From pioneering enterprise Linux to advancing cloud native computing, adaptability and customer choice drive our evolution.

• Our global community, foundational partnerships and core values remain the bedrock for our next chapter of growth.

When I think about SUSE turning 34, I am struck by how much the technology landscape has transformed. Yet, through all the shifts in how we build, deploy and scale software and what our solutions address, one thing has remained absolute: our unwavering commitment to being open.

SUSE’s story started in 1992, born just a few months after Linus Torvalds sent his historic email announcing a free operating system. We were captivated by the potential of that collaborative model. By 1995, we had distilled that community magic into the release of SUSE Linux 1.0, helping to bring open source out of the realm of hobbyists and into the hands of the masses.

We always knew that for open source to truly change the world, it needed to be rock-solid and reliable. That belief was validated in 1999 when we forged foundational partnerships with IBM, SAP, and Oracle. Suddenly, Linux was the trusted backbone for the most mission-critical enterprise environments. However, true openness also means pragmatism, and giving customers genuine choice without vendor lock-in. That’s why in 2006, we signed a groundbreaking interoperability agreement with Microsoft. We bridged the gap between the proprietary and open source worlds simply because it was the right thing to do for our users.

Adaptability has always been in Geeko’s DNA. As the tech landscape accelerated into the cloud era, so did we. When EQT carved SUSE out from Micro Focus in 2019, it sparked a renewed era of agility and independence for us. We knew we couldn’t just rest on being the best at enterprise Linux. We wanted to champion the next frontier. Our acquisition of Rancher Labs in 2020 was a massive step in that direction, cementing our commitment to cloud native computing and giving our customers the tools to manage Kubernetes anywhere. We took that combined strength to the global stage the very next year, proudly ringing the bell for our IPO on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in 2021.

Today, our momentum is stronger than ever. In 2023, we welcomed DP van Leeuwen as our CEO. He’s truly a leader who shares our deep-rooted passion for open source values and is championing our next phase of growth and innovation.

These moments in our history aren’t just corporate milestones. They are the direct result of our core values in action. We believe in being fiercely open, adapting to whatever our users need next, and succeeding together as a global community.

To our incredible people, partners, and customers: thank you for 34 amazing years. I’m immensely proud of where we came from, but looking at the road ahead, I am even more excited about where we are going.

Here’s to the next chapter of open innovation!

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