SUSE Linux, now owned by Attachmate, is preparing a cloud strategy. That’s good news for partners that have remained loyal to SUSE amid the transition from Novell to Attachmate. But SUSE will also face plenty of challenges in the cloud.
Nils Brauckmann, president and GM of Attachmate’s SUSE Business Unit, expects to announce a comprehensive cloud strategy in the next 60 to 90 days, according to ZDNet. In some ways SUSE is well-suited for the cloud. Linux is a defacto standard for many cloud deployments. Plus, SUSE has close relationships with IBM and VMware. In fact, VMware was rumored to be among the bidders for Novell’s SUSE business, but Attachmate eventually acquired all of Novell.
So far, the SUSE cloud effort has included support for Amazon Web Services; SUSE Studio to help software developers deliver services; and SUSE Manager for Linux management. Plus, SUSE works closely with the KVM and Xen virtualization standards.
Still, SUSE lacks an all-encompassing cloud rally cry. More than a year ago, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced the all-in cloud initiative. And Microsoft updated that cloud rally cry during the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2011 (WPC11), held in July. Meanwhile, Red Hat has been evangelizing multiple cloud efforts — including OpenShift (platform as a service). Plus, Red Hat will pitch its cloud strategy to partners during the North America Partner Conference (Oct. 25-27, Miami).
SUSE’s cloud strategy is going to require a channel partner component. And so far, SUSE is still working to de-couple its partner program from the Novell partner program. As of this writing, SUSE’s partner database was still hosted on Novell’s web site.
It’s a safe bet that SUSE will pitch its cloud vision during the Brainshare conference (Oct. 10-14, Salt Lake City, Utah). Under Novell’s ownership, brainshare had been a Novell-centric conference. But this year content will cover each of Attachmate’s business divisions: Novell, NetIQ and SUSE.
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