SuSE Linux Announces Strategic Partnership With SGI; SuSE Linux Technical Expertise Attracts SGI Investment

Business Wire, Dec 1, 2000

Business Editors/Technology Writers

OAKLAND, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 1, 2000

Today, SuSE Linux, the international technology leader and solutions provider in open source operating system (OS), announced a new strategic partnership with SGI (NYSE:SGI), a world-leader in high performance computing and visualization solutions. The terms of the agreement include, SGI's equity investment in SuSE Linux Corporation the cooperative development, deployment and support of the Linux operating system and infrastructure code. The companies' customers benefit from the high-end enterprise applications derived from this partnership.

"SGI is pleased to partner with SuSE and thereby extend its already deep commitment to the Open Source community," said Robert Bishop, chairman and CEO, SGI. "Through our combined efforts, we can significantly advance the applications of Linux for our customers."

Earlier this year, the companies successfully introduced Linux FailSafe, a scalable and modular high-availability solution based on IRIS FailSafe. Linux FailSafe offers advanced clustering capabilities to Linux and signifies an important step in the maturation of Linux into a platform of choice for enterprise-class, high availability applications. SGI and SuSE jointly participated in the highly regarded IA-64 Linux effort.

"The technical precision of SuSE Linux provides the stability and reliability that is crucial to the continuing deployment of Linux throughout the enterprise," said Dirk Hohndel, CTO, SuSE Linux AG. "Our partnership with SGI broadens the availability of Open Source solutions to more and more enterprise computing environments."

About SuSE

SuSE Linux is the international technology leader and solutions provider in Open Source operating system (OS) software. SuSE's unique expertise in Linux and its largest development team worldwide dedicated to Open Source software has contributed to the recognition of SuSE as the most complete Linux solution available today.

SuSE Linux AG, headquartered in Germany, and SuSE Inc., based in Oakland, Calif., are privately held companies focused entirely on supporting the Linux community and Open Source development. With a workforce of more than 500 people worldwide, SuSE has offices throughout Europe, Latin America and in the US. More information please see www.suse.com.

About SGI

Known as a strong advocate for open technology, SGI is committed to contributing technology from its core competencies in visualization and high-performance computing to the open source community. SGI provides a broad range of high-performance computing and advanced graphics solutions that enable customers to understand and conquer their toughest computing problems. Headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., with offices worldwide, the company is located on the Web at www.sgi.com.

Note to Editors: Silicon Graphics and IRIS are registered trademarks and SGI, the SGI logo, Linux FailSafe and IRIS FailSafe are trademarks of Silicon Graphics Inc. SuSE is a registered trademark of SuSE Linux AG. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. All other trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.