Microsoft SUSE agreement extended

Microsoft SUSE agreement extended

Microsoft and SUSE have confirmed a four-year extension of their interoperability agreement.

Many IT managers worry about both support options for Linux/Microsoft systems sharing an environment as well as the interoperability across platforms and their robustness, particularly as private clouds based on virtualisation become more common.

The original agreement was struck between the two technology firms almost five years ago. Now, the IT giant and SUSE have committed to extending their relationship to at least 2016, with Microsoft also agreeing to invest around $100 million in new SUSE Linux Enterprise certificates for customers receiving Linux support from SUSE.

Firms looking to expand their use of virtualisation techniques also look set to benefit, with the partnership working to deliver a smoother experience when running the two platforms in conjunction with each other.

James Largotta, global vice-president of sales for BridgeWays, an independent software vendor, noted that this has already proved beneficial in his line of work: "We find the interoperability partnership between Microsoft and SUSE to be highly complementary to the work we do, especially with the emergence of the private cloud."

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