Unlock Your Cloud-Native Workflow: Introducing the Free subscription and FIPS-validated content for SUSE Application Collection

Developers need instant access to trusted, Enterprise-grade application stacks without friction or cost barriers. Organizations, meanwhile, require enterprise-grade compliance (like FIPS) and seamless integration with their private infrastructure. This release addresses both the need for frictionless entry and rigorous compliance simultaneously.

We are excited to announce a massive expansion to the SUSE Application Collection, making our trusted, production-ready workloads available to everyone, everywhere.

From Laptop to Production: Features for Every Stage of Your Workflow

The target users are Developers looking for a friction-less entry point to trusted cloud-native applications, and Platform Engineers who manage strict compliance and private registry requirements.

Free Subscription and SUSE Linux BCI base images

• Developers face a high barrier to entry when trying out secured enterprise application collections and often struggle to find trustworthy, battle-tested base images.
• Developers can now immediately play with and start using SUSE Application Collection on sound foundations, integrating it into their daily workflow thanks to the Free Subscription and SUSE Linux BCI base images, that can be extended with thousands of SUSE-maintained packages from the BCI repository.

Rancher Desktop UI Extension

• Integrating new tools and application sources into a local development environment (like Rancher Desktop) is often complex and manual.
• This feature provides a developer-friendly, visual experience that makes SUSE Application Collection a seamless part of the Rancher Desktop workflow, making it a key part of the local development cycle.

Custom OCI Registry and FIPS Content (SUSE Rancher Suite)

• Platform Engineers need application content to reside in their private infrastructure (Custom OCI registry) and must meet stringent government or industry compliance standards (FIPS).
• SUSE Application Collection now fits perfectly into existing enterprise workflows and technological landscapes, addressing even the most risk-averse, stringent use cases for Platform Engineers.
• In practice, customers will be able to select applications they want to “subscribe to”, set their target registry, and Application Collection will push the subscribed content directly in their registry, every time a new version is released.

The Two-Sided Advantage: From Free entry to FIPS

The core value is the combination of lowered barrier to entry (test for free, highly developer-friendly) with the ability to scale up to enterprise-grade, secured, and compliant deployment (custom OCI registry, FIPS content). SUSE Application Collection is uniquely positioned to support the entire application lifecycle, from independent developer testing to production in the most demanding environments.

SUSE Application Collection continues to offer the most secured workloads served with Helm charts, now enhanced with even better security and convenience features. This unified approach—combining free access, developer convenience, and mandatory security (FIPS)—differentiates us by providing a single solution that scales from personal development to the highest levels of risk-averse enterprise deployment.

Real-World Impact

Imagine a startup founder who uses the Free Subscription and Rancher Desktop UI Extension to quickly build and secure their prototype using SUSE Linux BCI base images. Confident in the stack’s stability, they attract enterprise customers, necessitating a security upgrade. They seamlessly transition to Rancher Prime, and later to Rancher Suite to leverage the Custom OCI Registry feature and FIPS Content, integrating SUSE Application Collection‘s secured stacks directly into their regulated CI/CD pipeline. This demonstrates a frictionless journey from ideation to enterprise production readiness.

This release will drive dramatic adoption by developers, leading to a strong rate of adoption of the free subscription, and demonstrating clear value by tracking the subsequent conversion from free subscription to Prime / SUITE, as well as the rate of adoption of the custom OCI registry by enterprise customers.

Ready to Build Securely? Get Started Now 

You’ve seen how the SUSE Application Collection eliminates the friction for developers while delivering mandatory security for the enterprise. The easiest way to experience the value is to dive in today.

• Better for Everyone: Start with free, seamless access as a developer and scale confidently with enterprise-required features as a Platform Engineer.
• Start on Sound Foundations: Get immediate access to the most secured workloads available with SUSE Linux BCI base images.
• Seamless Integration: The Rancher Desktop UI Extension makes SUSE Application Collection instantly usable within your existing local setup.

Ready to build secure applications for free? Get started with the SUSE Application Collection Free Subscription today and experience the only collection that scales with you from your laptop to the most demanding production environment!

Start your journey to freedom Today

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• Learn how SUSE Rancher Prime was recognized in the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Container Management
• Discover insights from the Forrester Wave™ Report on Kubernetes and hybrid cloud strategy
• Read IDC’s ROI study showing 258% ROI and multimillion-dollar benefits for SUSE Rancher Prime customers

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