SUSE Expands Open Source Capabilities in AI, Cloud, and Enterprise Linux at SUSECON 25

SUSECON 25: Expanding Open Source In Cloud, Edge, and AI

Last week, SUSE hosted SUSECon '25 in Orlando, FL. Although SUSE has been in the open source game for decades, they've been getting increased attention with some seasoned leadership coming from competitor Red Hat, its acquisition of much-loved Rancher, and changing expectations/norms in the open source ecosystem. SUSE's big message started with a commitment to Linux, open-source innovation, and ultimately -- choice. CEO Dirk-Peter van Leeuwen presented awards to 12 different customers emphasizing broad enterprise reach. The company also revealed a rebranded portfolio focused on four key platforms: Linux, Cloud-Native, Edge, and AI. Notable rebrands include SUSE Rancher (Kubernetes management), SUSE Storage (formerly Longhorn), SUSE Virtualization (formerly Harvester), and SUSE Multi Linux Support (formerly Liberty Linux). These changes aim to simplify navigation and address market need. The big changes announced include: SUSE Is Keen To Make A Move As we look to 2025, SUSE has new opportunities to transition from its perception in the market as an important but low-profile provider of several solid IT infrastructure offerings into an enterprise IT platform vendor that gets more visibility among C-level enterprise IT leaders. That's no easy task in an IT world dominated by multi-trillion dollar hyperscalers. However, the generative AI shakeup of the tech landscape has prompted a rethink of IT strategy in big companies and government agencies. SUSE therefore has an opportunity to expand its customer, partner, and product reach among strategic enterprise technology and infrastructure decision makers. How can they execute on this vision? Forrester believes that to do this effectively, SUSE must make more traction in North America via its AI capabilities, up-level positioning to more senior executives, and go all in on the open source AI ecosystem opportunity. Why it matters: You need flexible, holistic tech platforms Enterprise technology systems are evolving into layered platforms. That doesn't come without cost, maintenance or risk, which must be managed over time to address the changing needs of the business. It's called platform engineering; and it's the main enterprise standard. Yet, many platform providers haven't adjusted to this way of working. SUSE's latest efforts do. SUSE's realignment and messaging taps into the platform-oriented model and makes a promise to improve those platforms over time to match customer needs, while avoiding the introduction of prescriptive frameworks that limit choice. That's a good thing; they are moving in the right direction as a product company. Most businesses are being blindsided by the rapid iteration of AI, disruptions introduced from geopolitical unrest, and core vendor strategy changes. In the face of uncertainty, SUSE's message of technology choice and autonomy should resonate. Expect similar language from their competition over the course of the year. If your organization is faced with the difficulty of how to choose your next platform, Forrester is here to help you find the right path. If you are already a client you can click here to schedule a guidance session or request research to help you take the next best action.

SUSE Empowers Enterprise Innovation with Expanded Open Source Capabilities in AI, Enterprise Linux, Security, and More

At the annual SUSECON, SUSE introduced new features and partnerships to support businesses with greater security, agility, and scalability across their most critical workloads SUSE®, a global leader in open source technology solutions, has announced a range of new product features at its annual global SUSECON. As APAC organizations look to accelerate innovation, these new features support greater resiliency, security, and technology-enabled growth. The new features announced include core updates to SUSE Linux and Security portfolios, a new SUSE Rancher for SAP applications update, integration with Microsoft Sentinel and Microsoft Security Copilot, and comprehensive upgrades for SUSE AI in combination with observability features. In addition, SUSE has expanded its partnerships with Infosys and to provide a new solution that enables businesses to use AI easily and securely. SUSE also recognized the winners of this year's Customer Awards - all of whom represent a vanguard of companies utilizing open source technology in new and dynamic ways to solve critical challenges. Empowering Enterprises With AI-Specific Observability, Enhanced Security, and Agentic Workflows: Upgrades to SUSE AI and New Integration with Infosys A new version of SUSE AI, the open infrastructure platform for deploying and running AI workloads, gives customers better cost visibility and security performance with the integration of Observability. The enhanced platform provides valuable insights into AI workloads, GPU performance, LLM token usage and supports the development of agent-based workflows. Through an expanded partnership, SUSE AI will also be brought together with Infosys' GenAI-based system integration solutions powered by Infosys Topaz AI. Infosys Topaz is an AI-centric offering that helps organizations maximize the business value of generative AI with a comprehensive set of services, solutions and platforms. This includes the Infosys Responsible AI Toolkit, which builds on Infosys' ethical and regulatory framework and equips organizations with advanced technical safeguards. Putting Freedom of Choice Back Into Customers' Hands: New SUSE Enterprise Linux Enhancements The next phase of SUSE Multi-Linux Support expands both support and management capabilities for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and CentOS Linux, giving organizations more flexibility in managing their heterogeneous distributed Linux environments. With this enhancement, SUSE is reinforcing its commitment to technology choice by moving beyond CentOS migration to support other commercial Linux distributions. Also planned for release next June is Multi-Linux Manager 5.1, which will enable customers to manage heterogeneous and distributed Linux environments with greater control and scalability. Another major milestone in enterprise Linux is SUSE Linux 16, which provides a solid foundation for organizations to drive innovation. SUSE Linux 16 provides a streamlined installation and management experience for any organization using SUSE Linux, with technologies such as the Agama installer, NetworkManager, Cockpit and deeper Ansible integration. Advancing Enterprises' Cloud-Native Capabilities: SUSE Rancher Prime Arrives With New Updates SUSE also unveiled major updates to SUSE Rancher Prime, its enterprise container management platform, which now offers more comprehensive capabilities for managing cloud-native workloads. These new features solidify SUSE Rancher Prime as a leading platform for enterprises seeking scalable, secure, and flexible solutions for running and managing their cloud-native applications at scale. Integrate Hybrid Systems Seamlessly: Strengthened Partnerships with SAP and AWS With SUSE Rancher for SAP applications, companies can integrate their SAP systems and cloud solutions anywhere. The solution is completely based on open source technology and offers flexibility, security, and operational continuity for companies that rely on business-critical SAP processes in hybrid cloud scenarios. This is further supported by advances in virtualization, observability, security, and developer experience - as well as the availability of SUSE solutions in the AWS Marketplace and the new cloud offering SUSE Rancher Hosted. SUSE thereby strengthens its position as a leading platform for enterprise container management. Better Automated Threat Response: Integration With Microsoft Sentinel and Microsoft Security Copilot In times of increasing and increasingly complex security threats, SUSE offers its customers a central security dashboard through the new integration with Microsoft Sentinel, a cloud-native SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) solution. This provides customers with a broader overview of security threats in various environments and the ability to respond to them with automated actions. The integration of Microsoft Security Copilot also enables the analysis of data and AI-driven recommendations to defend against attacks. This allows companies to pursue a unified security approach for hybrid IT environments. Showcasing Best in Class Use of Open Source: Announcing Our SUSE Customer Awards 2025 Winners During SUSECON, the company also honored this year's winners of the SUSE Customer Awards. This year's award winners include NPCI, Aussie Broadband, Rivian, P&G, and the Child Rescue Coalition among others. These awards recognize companies that utilize SUSE solutions to drive innovation, achieve business results, and make a positive impact on the economy, environment, and society. To see this year's SUSECON highlights: https://www.suse.com/susecon/. *** About SUSE SUSE is a global leader in innovative, reliable and secure enterprise open-source solutions, including SUSEⓇ Linux Suite, SUSEⓇ Rancher Suite, SUSEⓇ Edge Suite and SUSEⓇ AI Suite. More than 60% of the Fortune 500 rely on SUSE to power their mission-critical workloads, enabling them to innovate everywhere - from the data center to the cloud, to the edge and beyond. SUSE puts the "open" back in open source, collaborating with partners and communities to give customers the ability to tackle innovation challenges today and the freedom to evolve their strategy and solutions tomorrow. For more information, visit www.suse.com.