SUSE Announces Executive Leadership Team with Dedicated Focus on Driving Growth and Innovation in the Linux Marketplace

NUREMBERG, Germany, May 18, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- SUSE, a new business unit of The Attachmate Group, today announced its organizational focus on developing, marketing and supporting a portfolio of innovative solutions centered around SUSE® Linux Enterprise, the most interoperable platform for mission-critical computing across physical, virtual and cloud environments. Nils Brauckmann, a 20-year industry veteran with both Attachmate and Novell® heritage, will lead the SUSE organization's passionate commitment to quality engineering, excellent customer service and open source innovation.

According to IDC, projections continue to show Linux operating system revenue exceeding $1 billion in 2012 and continuing to grow to $1.4 billion in 2014 — important milestones for the Linux market.(1)

"By operating SUSE as a separate business unit focused on the Linux marketplace, we can accelerate our delivery of high-value Linux solutions that help organizations enhance growth, reduce costs, tame complexity and spur innovation," said Nils Brauckmann, president and general manager of SUSE. "We have the world-class engineering resources, partners and state-of-the-art technologies to succeed. Now we are sharpening our focus on making SUSE Linux Enterprise the preeminent Linux distribution across physical, virtual and cloud environments."

An experienced leader in the technology industry, Brauckmann first joined Attachmate in 1994 and has held various management roles across sales, marketing and support organizations in EMEA. Previously, Brauckmann served in cross-functional and international management positions for Siemens Nixdorf and Novell. He has considerable leadership experience in managing high-growth businesses and is the ideal leader to drive the development and delivery of Linux solutions for customers' most pressing needs.

"I am thrilled to lead this business and team in our pursuit of providing comprehensive Linux solutions that solve real problems for IT and the line of business. With a laser focus on making SUSE successful, we are committed to the products and services that our customers and partners rely on to run their businesses. Moreover, we recognize and celebrate the value of the openSUSE Project and will remain a strong supporter of the openSUSE community," said Brauckmann.  "We reiterate our long-term commitment to the open source communities at the heart of our ecosystem. Our presence in these communities will help our customers benefit from the rich value of Linux, while encouraging the collaboration that has made Linux the foundation of so many computing environments today."

Leading SUSE from its newly based headquarters in Nuremberg, Germany, Brauckmann and his team of experienced industry executives will be responsible for the organization's continued development and sale of solutions based on SUSE Linux Enterprise, through the Open Platform Solutions division of the former Novell, Inc. Specifically, Brauckmann will drive SUSE sales, marketing, engineering, technical support and consulting and training services that align with customer needs and demands. He will passionately advocate enterprise adoption of open source solutions and support the activities of the openSUSE community.

The SUSE leadership team comprises:

• Nils Brauckmann – President and General Manager
• Ralf Flaxa – Vice President of Engineering
• Ronald de Jong – Vice President, EMEA Sales
• Terri Hall – Vice  President, North America Sales
• John Delk – Vice President, Strategic Accounts, Partners & Alliances – North America
• Michael Miller – Head of Global Alliances, Marketing and Product Management

"SUSE furthers The Attachmate Group's mission to deliver solutions that are strategically important to our customers' future. SUSE has a long history of innovation, product quality and commitment to customer success, which is wholly consistent with The Attachmate Group's beliefs and values," said Jeff Hawn, chairman and CEO of The Attachmate Group. "By dedicating focused resources to the brand, we are providing our teams the agility and adaptability required to support the rapidly growing enterprise Linux market. With Nils Brauckmann and his talented management team at the helm, I am confident we will not only meet, but exceed customer expectations, truly unleashing the full power of the SUSE brand."

About SUSE

SUSE is a leading provider of enterprise Linux solutions that increase agility, reduce cost and manage complexity in dynamic environments.  With a portfolio centered around SUSE Linux Enterprise, the most interoperable platform for mission-critical computing, SUSE enables organizations to confidently deliver computing services across physical, virtual and cloud environments.  With our award-winning products and ecosystem of partnerships, SUSE solutions empower thousands of organizations around the world. For more information, visit us at www.novell.com/linux.  

Copyright © 2011 Novell, Inc. All rights reserved. Novell, the Novell Logo, the N Logo and SUSE are registered trademarks of Novell, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks, trade names, or company names referenced herein are used for identification only and are the property of their respective owners.

(1) IDC, Worldwide Linux Operating Environment 2011-2015 Forecast: Accelerating Toward the Era of Cloud, Doc #227778, April, 2011.

SOURCE Novell