SUSE Showcases 20 Years of Commercializing Open Source Software

April 5, 2012


Celebrating 15,000 Customers and Counting

NUREMBERG, Germany

SUSE today announced that it has increased its customer base to 15,000, hitting a new milestone in its 20th year in business. In an infographic showcasing “20 Years of SUSE,” the long-time provider of enterprise Linux solutions illustrates historical milestones and facts, including its origins, partnerships, product launches and customer successes.

Customer Milestones: Over two-thirds of the global Fortune 100 use SUSE® Linux Enterprise Server. Additionally, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server is the most widely used commercial enterprise Linux distribution in China; and five of the top 10 global supercomputers use SUSE. Customers that trust SUSE to run their mission-critical IT services today include Walgreens, Sony, Office Depot and the London Stock Exchange.

Partner Milestones:  SUSE is known for its strong partner ecosystem. Starting with its landmark partnership with IBM in 1999, and continuing with the business and technical collaboration agreement with Microsoft in 2006, SUSE today maintains deep relationships with AMD, Dell, Fujitsu, HP, Intel, SAP and VMware. More than 9,200 third-party applications are certified and supported on SUSE Linux Enterprise – as are over 13,500 hardware, storage and networking devices.

Product Milestones: From its origins as a German translator of Slackware, SUSE today delivers mission-critical, enterprise-class Linux products and solutions, including the award-winning SUSE Studio™ and SUSE Manager

Community Milestones: SUSE today supports a variety of open source community initiatives, including the openSUSE ® project, established in 2005.

Corporate Milestones: Notable acquisitions include The Attachmate Group’s purchase of Novell, leading to the reestablishment of SUSE as an autonomous business unit focused on engineering excellence, smarter innovation and enduring customer and partner relationships.

Supporting Quotes:

Nils Brauckmann, president and general manager, SUSE:

“We have a lot to celebrate in 2012. SUSE is a recognized market leader that is well positioned to take advantage of growing demand for commercial Linux and open source technologies. In fact, SUSE just completed a strong fiscal year marked by accelerated growth and profitability. We are   healthystable, and are continuing to invest in the future.

“In the larger scheme, Linux is arguably one of the most influential technologies of our time. It’s providing the backbone for mission-critical, high-performance business and technical applications that are changing the way the world works. The most powerful computers in the world use it to crunch complicated algorithms. Linux has paved the way for companies’ move of information into ‘the cloud’ and for the general spirit of collaboration that has fueled everything from social networking to Wikipedia.”

About SUSE

SUSE is a leading provider of enterprise Linux solutions that help companies increase agility, reduce cost and manage complexity.  With a portfolio centered on SUSE Linux Enterprise, the most interoperable platform for mission-critical computing, SUSE enables organizations to confidently deliver computing services across physical, virtual and cloud environments.  With our award-winning products and ecosystem of partnerships, SUSE solutions empower thousands of organizations around the world.