View SUSE Through the Years
1992-1996 The Founding Years
We embrace and promote the latest high-quality Linux innovation
1992—Roland Dyroff, Thomas Fehr, Burchard Steinbild and Hubert Mantel get together to develop software and function as an advisory group for UNIX and decide instead to distribute Linux, offering support. They name the company “S.u.S.E.” a German acronym for “Software und System-Entwicklung” (software and systems development).
Mid-1992—Distributes SLS, the first comprehensive Linux distribution (created by Peter MacDonald), on floppies to people who want Linux.
1993—Peter Volkerding cleans up SLS, creating Slackware
1994—Releases S.u.S.E. Linux 1.0 distribution, a German translation of Slackware developed with Volkerdung; ships first on floppies, then on CDs
1996—First true distribution developed by SUSE engineers released, named “SUSE Linux 4.2” (after Douglas Adam’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy)
1997-2000 Worldwide Expansion and Innovation
Rapid growth and innovation—by collaborating with partners and expanding engineering excellence
1997—Enters the U.S. market, establishing itself as SUSE LLC
1997-1998—Grows in Europe, becoming the region's market-leading Linux distribution
1999—Kicks off key partnerships: IBM (first Linux for the mainframe), SAP (SUSE on-site at SAP LinuxLab), Oracle (certified to run on SUSE)
1999-2000—Develops YaST, a unique, popular graphical installation and configuration framework
1999-2000—Invests in engineering, opening Prague engineering office and SUSE Labs (for innovation and open source project support)
1999-2000—Expands worldwide, including first subsidiary in Asia-Pacific (in South Korea)
1999-2000—Develops and releases the very first Enterprise Linux Server Edition worldwide
1999-2000—Becomes SUSE Linux AG
2001-2003 Worldwide Volatility, but Evolves
Despite business setbacks, SUSE continues to evolve organizationally and produce new technology
2001—Releases SUSE Enterprise Linux Server for IBM s/390 in 2000 and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for x86 in 2001, emerging as a leader with its stable, secure, tested, supported and certified operating system
2002—Celebrates 10th anniversary with partners and government officials, who recognize SUSE efforts to promote women in IT and educate the workforce for the 21st century
2002-2003—Adds and expands partnerships—including Intel, AMD, HP and Fujitsu
2002—Forms “United Linux,” with other Linux providers to offer joint distribution based on a common standard, but this falls apart (2004) due to recession and acquisitions
2003—Expands portfolio with first SUSE Linux Desktop for businesses
2003—Attracts investor attention for engineering excellence and high-quality products and announces acquisition by Novell (completed 2004)
2004-2010 SUSE and Novell
Revolutionizing the IT world under new business management
2004—Enlarges its customer base via NetWare’s global customers with launch of Novell Open Enterprise Server, combining Novell Netware functionality and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server benefits
2004—Launches openSUSE, enabling outside developers and users to test and develop Linux distributions
2006—Unique among Linux distributors, enters into partner agreement with Microsoft (2006) to collaborate on interoperability, providing greater choice to customers in developing comprehensive environment
2006-2009—Introduces first enterprise-ready virtualization technology for Linux: SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 integrated with Xen (2006) and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 with KVM as a technical preview (2009)
2009—Launches SUSE Studio™, a free, unique, web-based tool for building complete web-based appliances in minutes; named “Product of the Year 2009” and 2010 American Business Award for Best New Product or Service in the category Computer Hardware or Services
2010—Expands VMware partnership with an OEM agreement for VMware to distribute and support SUSE Linux Enterprise Server and standardize its appliance-based offerings on the SUSE Linux OS
2010—Launches cloud program with the announcement of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server on Amazon EC2
2011-Present New SUSE Unleashed
Focuses on adapting the best open source solutions for its customers’ success
2011—With the acquisition of Novell by The Attachmtate Group, returns to its roots as an independent business unit headquartered in Nuremburg
2011-2014—Continuously rolls out industry-leading technology: SUSE Manager, the only system management solution for monitoring and managing multiple Linux distributions (2011); SUSE Cloud, the first OpenStack-based Infrastructure as a Service (Iaas) product (2011); SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 with next-generation Linux code stream
2012—Celebrates 20th anniversary (2012); hosts first annual SUSECon, a global, Linux-focused conference for customers and partners
2013—Expands and deepens partnerships (2013)—with Dell, VMware, WS02 and SAP (SAP HANA) to expand products to the cloud and Big Data
2014—SUSE becomes a business unit of the Micro Focus Group as The Attachmate Group merges with Micro Focus International
