30 Fun Facts about SUSE

Today, SUSE turns 30. From our start in Nuremberg on September 2, 1992 to our record-breaking IPO in 2021 and continued growth, SUSE has always put community first, including our employee community. 

Looking back over my 33 years of employment at SUSE, I have often observed that there are more memories and joys in the journey than the destination. My journey with SUSE, (before it was even SUSE!) has been just that!  

Early in my career, I was inspired to volunteer to manage SUSE’s presence at an upcoming LinuxWorld Conference, a new experience for me. That decision led me down a path of learning and discovery that is indicative of all the opportunities I’ve been given during my time at SUSE.  We are encouraged to embody the spirit of open source, explore new experiences, and grow.  

In celebration of our 30th birthday, we’re sharing fun facts about our journey from 1992 to today. There should be a few surprises for even the most die-hard SUSE fans. Enjoy! 

1. SUSE is an acronym! S.u.S.E. is a German acronym for Software und System-Entwicklung (software and systems development)  
2. SUSE loves firsts. We were the world’s first enterprise Linux distribution.  
3. We went public in 2021. SUSE had the most successful IPO in Europe that year. Watch this video that takes you into the celebration.  
4. Why is our mascot a chameleon? Check out this video from SUSE’s Emiel Brok to get the answer. 
5. SUSE believes in education.  SUSE Academic program provides access to training, knowledge, and SUSE open source tools for schools, colleges, universities, academic hospitals, non-profit museums, libraries and more. 
6. SUSE helps others. SUSEcares, our philanthropic program, enables employees to donate to charities of their choice while engaging in well-being activities.  
7. SUSE means business. We’re helping our customers improve the world and manage their digital transformation. Learn more at the new SUSE Exchange events launching this month. 
8. We’re traded on the Frankfurt stock exchange. 
9. The original SUSE mascot was nick-named Kroete or Kröte (German for “toad”) which might have been the basis for the Old Toad beer released around 2010. 
10. SUSE loves to celebrate community. SUSECON, our user conference, debuted in North America in 2012. We marked our 10-year anniversary earlier this year. 
11. We walk the DEI talk. As part of our DEI initiatives, SUSE CEO, Mellissa Di Donato, started the Women in Technology network, the first employee network at SUSE. We now have four, including Pride, Go Green and Open Source Community Citizens. 
12. Ever been to a Rodeo? SUSE acquired Rancher Labs in 2020. Register for an upcoming Rancher Rodeo to learn more about cloud native infrastructure and security. 
13. SUSE has planted 3,709 trees in Madagascar as part our SUSE Forest climate initiative. 
14. Where’s our Grammy? The SUSE Band has been making laugh-out-loud music videos since 2016. Download the Greatest Hits album to hear classics like Uptime Funk and more. 
15. SUSE is generous. We’re working to raise 30,000 meals for Ukrainians through our Share the Meal challenge. Our employees, customers and partners are making it happen. 
16. SUSE prioritizes wellness. Our employees love Wellness Wednesdays which highlight physical and mental health, fitness challenges to promote healthy competition, and supporting individual efforts such as charity running events.   
17. Full circle moment. SUSE’s CEO, Melissa Di Donato, started her career as an SAP R/3 developer, writing apps to run on Linux. Fast forward to 2019 when she became CEO of SUSE and SAP is our most tenured partner. 
18. Of mice and windmills. The first SUSECON was held in Orlando, Florida, home of DisneyWorld. The first EMEA SUSECON was in Amsterdam. 
19. Containers have you feeling insecure? SUSE acquired NeuVector in 2021 to help customers shore up their container and Kubernetes security. Learn more. 
20. SUSE supports women in tech. SUSE’s Women in Technology group provides mentors, guest speakers and allyship. All employees can participate. 
21. SUSE supports young careers. SUSE Camp is a newly launched early career program that engages our junior employees and helps them find their career track. To celebrate 30 years, they’re spearheading a Go Green initiative in the month of September. 
22. Remember when software was on disks? SUSE’s first product shipped in a pretty big box. The internet was in its infancy. 
23. SUSE loves open source and community.  We’re involved in over 50 open source projects in addition to our own.  Join the SUSE Rancher community  to learn more.  
24. SUSE is committed to climate action. As a company, we’re setting science-based emissions targets and developing roadmaps to execute and deliver these targets.  
25. Our executives love to have fun. Our CEO, Melissa Di Donato, and our Chief Communications Officer, were in the music video for SUSE Has It. Although the video has been retired, you can download that song and many more from the SUSE Band Greatest Hits album available here. 
26. We’re not a cat, but we’ve had many lives. SUSE has been independent for much of its history, but operated as part of Novell and MicroFocus at different points in time. Now we’re a public company. 
27. SUSE and Google share a former CEO. Prior to his stint at Google, Eric Schmidt was the CEO of Novell, which acquired SUSE. He drove the bulldozer that broke ground at the company’s then-new Provo office. This was a great day and now we’re moving into a new office this month. 
28. We made the most of the lockdown. The entire SUSE acquisition of Rancher was conducted virtually. None of the parties met face-to-face until after the deal closed. 
29. SUSE people love SUSE. I am one of them! As we celebrate 30 years at SUSE, we have employees who are even older than the company celebrating 36, 33, and 29-year work anniversaries with many more in the teens. I just celebrated 33 years at SUSE. 
30. SUSE is the future. Our DNA is Linux, but we are blazing trails in the cloud native world.  

What a ride. Can’t wait for the next 30.