In today’s hyper-connected world, open-source software allows people to inspect, reuse, modify, and distribute because the source code is publicly accessible. This collaborative approach to development drives businesses, likely to undergo digital transformation, to innovate and further advance their IT landscape.
In the case of SUSE, the company’s engineers collaborate closely with a global community of open-source contributors upstream to develop and refine the software. Subsequently, they bring this “upstream” project “downstream” and productise it, preparing the product for large-scale enterprise use.
The platform builds on its Linux heritage and works with an ecosystem of partners and communities to adapt and secure open-source solutions backed by world-class service and support. With open source at the core of the company and its business model, SUSE considers this solution as a collaboration that benefits all participants and creates a broader base for everybody to build upon.
Vishal Ghariwala, senior director and chief technology officer at SUSE Asia Pacific, further notes, “SUSE is proud to be a good citizen and leader of the global open-source community. Our approach to open source is “open source first, upstream first.”
SUSE offers security patches, a long enterprise lifecycle, certifications, updates, and service pack upgrades that enhance stability, as well as improved features and functions.
Balancing open-source software with enterprise-grade stability and security
As an open-source solutions firm, SUSE assists customers to secure, modernise, and accelerate their IT landscape across the cloud continuum of traditional on-premises infrastructure, cloud, and edge environments.
To date, the company has already helped 60% of Fortune 500 companies use its enterprise open-source solutions.
Ensuring customers’ needs and demands are met, SUSE offers solutions, including its (1) business-critical Linux solutions, (2) container management and container security platforms, and lastly, (3) SUSE Edge.
Vishal explained that business-critical Linux solutions are highly available, secure, modern, and modular. These solutions can also be deployed seamlessly across on-premises, multi-cloud, and edge environments.
SUSE’s container management and container security platforms further help customers build, secure, manage, and operate cloud-native applications on Kubernetes across on-premises, multi-cloud, and edge environments.
Meanwhile, its purpose-built cloud-native edge computing platform is aimed at managing the full lifecycle of edge devices at scale in industries like manufacturing, telco, retail, healthcare, and others.
Probing further into these particular strategies, Vishal elaborated, “Our expert support teams are available 24×7 to provide SLA-based support to our customers.”
He further adds, “In this way, we not only deliver open-source innovation through active engagement with upstream open-source communities but also back it up with world-class service and support so that it meets our customers’ critical security, regulatory, and other business requirements.”
In terms of strengthening the security of SUSE’s cloud-native solutions, on the other hand, the company’s NeuVector Prime secures the software supply chain and takes a zero-trust approach to reduce financial and reputational risks.
For instance, Vishal cited Taiwan’s Trade Van and its cloud-native security approach. Trade Van used Rancher Prime and NeuVector Prime to accelerate the production of highly secure applications built as microservices deployed in containers.
The organisation’s containerised landscape now offers greater resilience and flexibility, supporting Trade-Van in improving the efficiency, speed, and cost-effectiveness of Taiwan’s international trade, impacting over 60,000 customers.
Core solutions in key IT areas and how they operate
When it comes to fundamental aspects of IT, the company offers the following open-source solutions: virtualization, containerisation, and cloud management. More specifically;
- Virtualization
SUSE’s Harvester helps IT operators consolidate and simplify their virtual machine workloads alongside Kubernetes clusters.
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server further includes the latest open-source virtualization technologies, Xen and KVM for virtual machines (VM Guests).
- Containerisation
SUSE’s container management platform, Rancher Prime, helps customers build, secure, manage, and operate cloud-native applications on Kubernetes across on-premises, multi-cloud, and edge environments.
Rancher Prime embraces the best practices of platform engineering so that platform teams can deliver self-service experiences to other parts of the organisation, which is key to reducing the time from code to value.
Moreover, SUSE container security platform NeuVector Prime secures your entire cloud-native software supply chain and software development lifecycle, from dev to test and all the way to production. It protects businesses from known vulnerabilities and provides real-time runtime protection against zero-day attacks.
- Cloud Management
Rancher Prime provides a single unified interface to enable the management of Kubernetes clusters across heterogeneous cloud environments ranging from on-premises data centres to public cloud providers and the edge.
SUSE Manager is an infrastructure management solution that simplifies and secures your entire mixed Linux environment on-premises, in the cloud, and at the edge, using a single interface.
Advancing the interoperability and adaptability of cloud-native solutions
In the face of rapid technological evolution, Vishal also noted two vital strategies that enterprises might consider when it comes to enhancing their interoperability and adaptability with cloud-native solutions.
First, companies may utilise open and interoperable solutions that provide you flexibility and choice to go with different vendors or swap out existing solutions as and when required and not be locked in to a particular vendor’s solution, stack, software, or hardware.
And second, they must also ensure ready access to people’s expertise to support their digital infrastructures.
For instance, Vishal highlighted a case study example: the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which provides the national payment infrastructure for the entire nation. NPCI programmes have revolutionised financial transactions in India, empowering millions, regardless of citizenship, with access to formal banking services through an account in any Indian bank, thus driving the country’s growth.
Thus, products such as Rancher Prime offered NPCI a crucial advantage by centralising the management of dispersed clusters and deployments, enabling the infrastructure team to focus on value-added operations.
Navigating the constantly changing landscape
When it comes to maintaining a competitive edge in the open-source landscape, Vishal outlined three crucial aspects that the company has been prioritising throughout the years.
This encompasses receptiveness to feedback from their customers, partners, and the community. In particular, he notes, “This feedback serves as great input for us to improve our solutions, so we stay ahead of the game and remain relevant.”
Part of these aspects also includes dedicating time and resources to industry-related movements. According to him, this aspect allows them to collaborate with numerous open-source industry initiatives and associations, which include the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) and the Linux Foundation, among others.
Lastly, SUSE has also been establishing partnerships with leading technology providers, hyperscalers, and chip manufacturers to strengthen their commitment to increasing interoperability and flexibility in computing infrastructure.
“Together with the open-source community and ecosystem, SUSE is excited to support customers as they accelerate their development pipelines, deliver innovative new products, and drive sustainable growth,” he concluded.
