Serving customers across diverse industries and scales, kt cloud operates workloads on the cloud that vary widely based on unique operational needs. Spun out of Korea's leading telecom company, KT, kt cloud is a cloud specialist with the largest data center, network lines and cloud infrastructure in Korea. It uses this infrastructure to build and provide an efficient and cost-effective hybrid cloud environment. The company has established itself as a leader in the Korean cloud market by pioneering public cloud services and launching the G-Cloud, a high-security cloud for public institutions, and the Cloud for Finance, the first of its kind in Korea.
At-a-Glance
With the termination of CentOS support, kt cloud customers faced a prolonged migration period before successfully transitioning to a stable operating system (OS) to address potential security issues and lack of support. Operating in a variety of industries, kt cloud’s customers not only use different OSes, but their workloads also vary significantly, making the migration process highly complex and challenging. In this environment, kt cloud chose SUSE Multi-Linux Support as a solution to provide stable support and security during the migration period. It launched a technical support subscription product called ‘SUSE Liberty on kt cloud’ backed by SUSE Multi-Linux Support. This made it the first among domestic cloud service providers (CSPs) to launch a reliable solution addressing CentOS end of life (EOL), setting itself up as a pioneer in the Korean market.
Problems customers faced before SUSE Multi-Linux Support
kt cloud's CSP customers had significant concerns about future support and stability as CentOS reached its EOL. This challenge necessitated a secure and reliable alternative. Transitioning to a new Linux platform while meeting varied demands typically requires extensive time and resources. Relying solely on CentOS, which lacked ongoing security updates and patches, posed substantial risks for both kt cloud and its customers.
Additionally, varying industry requirements necessitated different operating systems for migration. For kt cloud, managing SUSE Multi-Linux Support clients and their registrations was critical. A dedicated portal for customers also required API development to enable seamless integration of SUSE Multi-Linux Support clients and efficient task management.
Considering all these requirements — including the need for stable, long-term support, compatibility with existing environments and cost-effectiveness in both initial investment and long-term operations — kt cloud concluded that SUSE Multi-Linux Support and SUSE Multi-Linux Manager were the optimal solutions compared to competitors like Rocky Linux.
"With the introduction of SUSE Multi-Linux Support, which provides flexible migration options while maintaining the existing CentOS, we were the first CSP company in Korea to launch 'SUSE Liberty on kt cloud,' backed by SUSE Multi-Linux Support, before the CentOS EOL, enabling us to immediately provide stable and sustainable cloud services to our customers without service interruption and downtime."
The impact of SUSE Multi-Linux Support and SUSE Multi-Linux Manager
Unlike other operating systems that require configuration changes, compatibility testing and system downtime during migration, SUSE Multi-Linux Support offers seamless, uninterrupted service. Its flexibility and scalability enabled kt cloud to achieve a faster and more reliable time to market than other CSPs in South Korea. Days before CentOS EOL, kt cloud became the first CSP in the country to provide a stable and secure solution, alleviating customer concerns and reinforcing trust in its services.
kt cloud hosts SUSE Multi-Linux Support primarily on Dell hardware configured with OpenStack, allowing customers to utilize it on virtual machines (VMs). From simple web pages to web application servers, databases, streaming services and enterprise resource planning applications, SUSE Multi-Linux Support ensures OS continuity and security for the execution of integrated workloads on CSP infrastructure.
SUSE also provided comprehensive internal training for kt cloud engineers, ensuring a smooth adoption process. The training included the delivery of optimal architecture designs that facilitated stable transitions while maintaining CentOS-based environments. Based on this support, kt cloud developed an internal operations manual to ensure long-term operational efficiency and meet ongoing business needs.
Additionally, SUSE Multi-Linux Manager enabled unified management of kt cloud’s multi-Linux environments, while APIs and portal integrations streamlined operations, particularly for VM-based workloads.
SUSE continues to provide technical support to maintain operational stability and adaptability. Through this ongoing collaboration, SUSE helped kt cloud address evolving business requirements effectively.
While customer environments and workflows vary, making it challenging to quantify time and cost savings uniformly, SUSE Multi-Linux Support and SUSE Multi-Linux Manager allowed kt cloud’s customers to retain their existing CentOS systems with stable technical support until 2028 at a reasonable cost. This significantly reduced the resources and expenses required for migration. System transitions were completed efficiently, reliably and with minimal risk. Moreover, the SUSE Multi-Linux Manager’s integrated system is expected to further reduce operational costs in the future.
Through its adoption of SUSE solutions, kt cloud ensured service stability and enhanced customer trust. By addressing the challenges of CentOS EOL, kt cloud established itself as a leader in the CSP market, offering reliable and efficient services across multiple industries.
What’s next for kt cloud?
Leveraging SUSE Multi-Linux Support and SUSE Multi-Linux Manager, kt cloud has swiftly responded to market demands by ensuring the stability of its cloud services. This capability has bolstered customer trust and reinforced kt cloud’s leadership in the Korean CSP market. Looking forward, kt cloud aims to deepen its collaboration with SUSE in next-generation initiatives, such as infrastructure upgrades, by rigorously evaluating SUSE products and validating their performance. As kt cloud aspires to become a ‘top-tier technology company,’ it is partnering with SUSE and other stakeholders to enhance multi-cloud business capabilities, strategically expand its data center offerings and differentiate its data center technologies to achieve a competitive technological edge.