SUSE has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Rancher Labs. Based in Cupertino, Rancher is a privately held open source company, providing Kubernetes management platform.
“This is an incredible moment for our industry, as two open source leaders are joining forces. The merger of a leader in Enterprise Linux, Edge Computing and AI with a leader in Enterprise Kubernetes Management will disrupt the market to help customers accelerate their digital transformation journeys,” said Melissa Di Donato, SUSE CEO.
“Only the combination of SUSE and Rancher will have the depth of a globally supported and 100 per cent true open source portfolio, including cloud native technologies, to help our customers seamlessly innovate across their business from the edge to the core to the cloud,” added Di Donato.
“Rancher and SUSE will help organizations control their cloud native futures,” said Sheng Liang, Rancher CEO, adding, “Our leading Kubernetes platform with SUSE’s broad open source software solutions creates a powerful combination, enabling IT and Operations leaders worldwide to best meet the needs of their customers wherever they are on their digital transformation journey from the data centre to cloud to edge.”
Following regulatory approvals and the acquisition’s close, customers of both companies will benefit from a broader portfolio as well as from the vastly increased global presence and innovation.
SUSE customers will benefit from the robust capabilities of Rancher’s cloud native technologies. Rancher’s customers will on the other hand gain access to SUSE’s global support network and broad open source portfolio.
This combination is also said to be a huge win for SUSE’s global partner ecosystem who will now be able to provide an even broader range of solutions to their customers with Rancher’s solutions.
“Our vision to enable better futures and measurable value for our customers and partners is what guides our decisions and drives our growth. This acquisition enhances our ability to offer a more comprehensive portfolio, greater customer choice and no vendor lock-in. It will also enable us to play an even more strategic role with cloud service providers, independent hardware vendors, systems integrators and value-added resellers who are eager to provide greater customer experiences,” added Di Donato.
The deal is expected to close before the end of October 2020, subject to customary closing conditions including receipt of regulatory approvals.
