SUSE Secures OpenChain Certification, Meeting the New Industry Benchmark for a Simplified Open Source Experience

SUSE^® today announced it is OpenChain certified, an initiative to make open source licensing more predictable, understandable and efficient for participants of the software supply chain. As a trailblazer in this movement, SUSE is the first enterprise Linux distributor to earn conformance with the OpenChain Project Specification. In doing so, SUSE is helping free industry resources to focus on innovation by reducing complex processes.

The industry standard for managing open source compliance across the supply chain, the OpenChain Project helps to identify and share the core components of a high quality open source licensing program and convey this across the supply chain. OpenChain builds trust in open source by making things simpler, more efficient and more consistent.

“For more than 25 years, SUSE has created and engaged with open source communities as a foundation for its enterprise solutions,” said Thomas Di Giacomo, SUSE CTO. “We always engage with the community to better meet customer needs, and our OpenChain certification is another indication to enterprises that we are committed to making their experience with open source software more reliable and cost effective.”

Shane Coughlan, OpenChain General Manager, said, “The OpenChain Standard is suitable for every organization involved in the open source supply chain. Welcoming SUSE to our community is a landmark milestone that illustrates how we positively impact the beginning of the supply chain. It has been a pleasure to collaborate with a great team toward goals that will ultimately benefit thousands of companies across the globe.”

SUSE’s OpenChain certification is underpinned by the recently published SUSE Open Source Policy, which publicly shares SUSE’s longtime values, procedures and guidelines for open source software development and engagement.

Ralf Flaxa, SUSE President of Engineering, said, “Securing OpenChain compliance was a logical step for SUSE, as OpenChain provides an industry format that documents our existing R&D process that we have refined over many years. With so much of our engineering efforts tied to openSUSE and many other open source communities, programs such as OpenChain will enable us to ensure we are using equivalent terminology and guidelines so more time is spent on innovation and less on process.”