SUSE Linux Enterprise is the enterprise-grade version of SUSE’s open source Linux operating system distribution. SUSE Linux Enterprise can be deployed on both servers (SUSE Linux Enterprise Server) and desktops (SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop), and it competes in the enterprise Linux market with the likes of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), Oracle Linux and CentOS.
SUSE Linux Enterprise branches are based on openSUSE, an open source Linux distribution developed and supported by the openSUSE Project. The openSUSE Project is sponsored by SUSE, which had been owned by Novell after 2003, but SUSE currently operates as a standalone business unit following The Attachmate Group’s acquisition of Novell in 2011.