One of the continued drivers for SUSE’s growth is its partnership efforts, in particular, its multiyear partnership with Microsoft. Microsoft entered into a landmark partnership deal with SUSE’s predecessor company Novell in 2006. Novell was acquired by Attachmate in 2011 for $2.2 billion, and SUSE is now being run as a stand-alone business.
As has been the case since 2006, Microsoft resells SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, Dobrin Dobrev, product manager at SUSE, told eWEEK. Following the acquisition of Novell by Attachmate, Microsoft reaffirmed its commitment to SUSE, extending the relationship through 2016. Part of that partnership extension included a $100 million investment from Microsoft used to acquire SUSE Linux Enterprise certificates for customer support.