SUSE sees growth in multi-Linux support and containers

SUSE is experiencing double-digit growth globally, driven by demand for its Linux support services and Rancher container platform, along with its efforts to support artificial intelligence (AI) workloads.

In an interview with Computer Weekly in Singapore, SUSE CEO Dirk-Peter van Leeuwen highlighted the success of Liberty Linux, a multi-Linux support offering that helps organisations switch Linux providers without replacing their existing operating systems.

The programme has been touted as a lifeline for users of Linux distributions that no longer receive support or maintenance, such as CentOS 7. “It’s as simple as changing your phone provider but keeping your number,” said van Leeuwen.

SUSE’s ability to support Linux systems longer than rivals – particularly crucial for customers with stable legacy systems – has resonated with some of the world’s biggest companies, such as Deutsche Bank, which has moved all its Linux support to SUSE.

This momentum is also building in Asia-Pacific (APAC), where a South Korean telco has migrated its CentOS estate to Liberty Linux, according to Josep Garcia, SUSE’s general manager for the region. Other customers that have signed up for the programme include a financial services organisation in Taiwan and the National Payments Corporation of India.

“Two key things are driving this,” Garcia explained. “One is the end-of-life for CentOS 7, and the other is that many customers don’t want to spend the money upgrading; they prefer to shift dollars to innovation.”

Moving forward, SUSE aims to leverage Liberty Linux as an entry point for customers into its broader portfolio. “Once you understand Liberty, the next logical upgrade is SLES,” said van Leeuwen, referring to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.

He touted SLES’s advanced features, including the Btrfs file system, which enhances security and resilience by reverting to previous versions if a system boot fails. SUSE’s focus on confidential computing within SLES further adds to its appeal.

Beyond Linux, SUSE is bolstering Rancher with the acquisition of StackState, addressing the platform’s previous gaps in observability. StackState, a specialist tool that goes deep into container environments to understand how containers are behaving, is now included free for Rancher Prime subscribers.

Despite the acquisition’s recency, Rancher was recognised in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for container management, said van Leeuwen. “You can expect that next year, when they look at it again with all the observability features, we’ll be leading the quadrant.”

Two key things are driving [demand for Linux support from SUSE]. One is the end-of-life for CentOS 7, and the other is that many customers don’t want to spend the money upgrading; they prefer to shift dollars to innovation

Addressing concerns about integration with existing enterprise observability tools, van Leeuwen said Rancher is equipped with application programming interfaces that connect it with popular observability platforms such as Splunk and Grafana.

“We normally tie in quite well with them,” he noted, emphasising SUSE’s commitment to bidirectional data flow. This ensures compatibility and provides customers with a comprehensive view of their systems, facilitating effective monitoring and management.

Raising awareness of Rancher is a key focus for SUSE. While the platform enjoys strong community recognition, connecting it more closely with the SUSE brand is a priority, said van Leeuwen. A rebranding effort, to be unveiled at KubeCon North America in November 2024, will address this, he added.

In the APAC region, where SUSE is also growing its business in the double-digit range, Garcia detailed efforts to develop more customer references for Rancher. Recent successes include Hyundai Motor Company’s use of Rancher for its connected car platform and Trade-Van’s transition to containers, resulting in significantly faster application deployment.

Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware has also created opportunities for SUSE around virtualisation and containers, fuelled by concerns about rising prices under Broadcom’s ownership.

While acknowledging the complexities of migrating from VMware, van Leeuwen said SUSE has a growing number of customers seeking alternatives, partially or fully, leveraging SUSE’s cloud-native virtualisation and storage offerings.

Garcia added that while some migrations involve smaller companies, SUSE is also engaged with large enterprises, such as an Australian service provider building a container-as-a-service platform using Rancher, and Harvester, a virtualisation platform that unifies virtual machine and container management.

SUSE is also making strides in private AI, focusing on data security. “The most concerning thing for customers is, how do I secure my data?” said van Leeuwen, adding that SUSE’s private AI offering lets customers use open source tools and large language models on a trusted platform, protecting data from leaving the company’s control.

“This is a very different approach,” he argued, contrasting it with relying on public cloud providers’ contractual assurances that they won’t touch the data.

Van Leeuwen attributed the growth of SUSE’s business to the company’s strategic focus on offering choices for customers.

“We know the industry very well and how to deliver to customers what they need,” he said. “Customers have multiple versions of everything – including Linux and Kubernetes – and we’re giving them the choice to deploy those in a way that works for them. It’s a strategy that resonates with customers and it’s putting us in a very different light versus the competition.”