SUSE Virtualization 1.5 – More Value, Less Lock-In

As proprietary vendors raise prices and restrict flexibility, SUSE is providing more choice by helping organizations modernize on their terms.

With the release of SUSE Virtualization 1.5, we’re doubling down on value—giving enterprises more choice, predictability and performance without locking them in. The release expands support for Arm®-based chip support, CSI-compatible external storage, while adding consistent 4-month releases and partner certified data and storage options. 

Built for modern organizations, SUSE Virtualization now delivers a stronger enterprise lifecycle aligned with upstream Kubernetes, certified storage ecosystem, and full Arm64. As a core component of the SUSE cloud native stack. SUSE is all about choice, automate containers and VMs together with GitOps on fully open sourced Harvester HCI (SUSE Virtualization.

While Others Are Raising Prices, SUSE Is Raising Value

While others are removing choice or increasing lock-in, SUSE is doing the opposite, delivering more flexibility, broader ecosystem support and enterprise-ready virtualization on your terms. SUSE Virtualization delivers new value across the enterprise stack with each release. Just ask Child Rescue Coalition (CRC), a nonprofit that scaled their mission-critical crawler platform with SUSE Virtualization.

“It still amazes me when I think about those walls of servers that we had, and now it’s all sitting in one virtualized environment,” says Machorro. “If anything goes wrong, we can take the crawlers down with one command, fix them, and redeploy instantly. The tools provided by SUSE have truly revolutionized our daily work—our four-person team now works like a team of twenty-something. Automation is our task force multiplier.”

— Roberto Machorro, Senior Software Developer, Child Rescue Coalition

By running automated monitoring jobs through SUSE Virtualization’s intuitive API, the CRC team effortlessly manages hundreds of crawlers without added administrative burden. It’s a real-world example of how a lean team can scale infrastructure, improve resilience and deliver global impact with the right platform.

What’s New in SUSE Virtualization 1.5?

Arm®-based Chip Support With this release, SUSE Virtualization now offers full production-ready supportfor 64-bit Arm architecture.

Many enterprises are looking to expand at the edge, modernize their infrastructure, or reduce power and cooling costs in remote environments. But traditional x86-based systems often limit how lean and efficient those deployments can be. At the same time, ARM has become the preferred architecture for companies like Apple and many public cloud providers because it offers better performance-per-watt, smaller footprints and improved thermal profiles. The challenge? Running ARM workloads reliably in production, especially alongside x86 systems, has often required a tradeoff in tooling or support.

With SUSE Virtualization 1.5, that tradeoff disappears. Enterprises can now run ARM64 and x86 workloads side by side, fully supported and production-ready. Whether you’re deploying Kubernetes at the edge or consolidating infrastructure in the datacenter, this release gives teams the freedom to choose the best-fit architecture for every workload without having to worry about management complexity. Everything is visible and manageable through Rancher Manager, included with SUSE Virtualization, making multi-arch deployments both practical and powerful.

• See how SUSE and Ampere simplify Arm64 virtualization in this blog.

Enterprise Lifecycle You Can Count On SUSE Virtualization now follows a consistent 4-month release cadence aligned with upstream Kubernetes, and introduces more flexible upgrade options across versions.

In most enterprise environments, the problem isn’t just software sprawl, it’s lifecycle drift. Over time, critical infrastructure components like your virtualization stack and Kubernetes distribution fall out of sync. Upgrading becomes a high-stakes event, and technical debt piles up. Staying current without breaking things is harder than it should be.

That’s why lifecycle consistency is such a big deal. With SUSE Virtualization 1.5, you can count on a predictable upgrade rhythm that matches their Kubernetes strategy. Teams can move cleanly between patch and minor versions, reducing downtime and simplifying change control.  For any team trying to balance agility with stability, this release turns upgrades into a non-event.

Enterprise Storage Ecosystem SUSE Virtualization 1.5 adds full support for CSI-compatible external storage appliances, along with new partner certifications in progress and built-in storage options.

Enterprise storage strategies have always been complicated. You invest in a storage platform, architect around it, and then spend years trying to avoid getting locked in. When it comes time to modernize, you discover that your virtualization layer can’t support the flexibility you need or worse, that switching vendors will break critical integrations.

This release changes that equation. By supporting any CSI-compatible storage, SUSE Virtualization opens the door to a more adaptable and cost-effective storage future. Customers can integrate appliances from Dell, HPE, NetApp, Oracle, Portworx and others with confidence, knowing that these partners are actively certifying their CSI drivers for seamless integration. SUSE also includes built-in storage to help teams get up and running quickly, no extra licensing required. Whether you’re modernizing databases, deploying persistent apps, or consolidating platforms, SUSE Virtualization gives you storage freedom without the risk.

Certified Data Protection with SUSE SUSE Virtualization now supports the SUSE Data Protection for Virtualization Certification, giving enterprises a safer, faster path to backup and recovery.

Data protection can be one of the most overlooked components in a virtualization strategy until something goes wrong. Many IT teams are left stitching together backup solutions manually, only to run into compatibility issues or support gaps during recovery. And when environments scale, so do the risks.

With this certification program, SUSE is taking the guesswork out of data protection. Partners work directly with SUSE to validate their solutions across performance, lifecycle compatibility and real-world reliability. That means faster rollouts, stronger assurance, and fewer surprises when it matters most. From Day 1 to Day 900, you know your backups are built to scale with SUSE’s platform evolution—not fall behind it.

Whether you’re modernizing databases, scaling persistent applications, or preparing for compliance audits, SUSE Virtualization 1.5 makes your infrastructure more flexible. More product information is available on the SUSE Virtualization product page.

Take control of your virtualization stack

Explore how SUSE Virtualization 1.5 helps enterprises modernize infrastructure, reduce cost, and manage containers and virtual machines side by side. With no vendor lock-in.

• Learn how to simplify VM management on Arm64 infrastructure with SUSE and Ampere.
• Ensure peace of mind with certified backup and recovery for your virtual workloads.
• See why IDC reports 258% ROI and $3.4 million in annual benefits when using SUSE Virtualization with Rancher Prime.

Ready to Modernize?

Contact SUSE to evaluate how your organization can reduce costs, simplify operations and modernize without compromise. You can also explore our full virtualization offering on the SUSE Virtualization Product Page.