SUSE today introduced SUSE Ready certification for SUSE CaaS Platform, expanding its respected application-certification program for independent software vendors (ISVs). ISVs building containers that use the open source docker container format can now certify their containerized application on SUSE CaaS Platform, an enterprise-class container management solution that enables IT and DevOps professionals to more easily deploy, manage and scale container-based applications and services. SUSE Ready verifies for customers that partner solutions are tested and supported on SUSE software, so they can confidently use compatible and supported third-party solutions that best meet their business requirements, without being locked in to a single vendor.

“The SUSE Ready certification program has been well received by partners and customers,” said Frank Rego, director of the ISV Partner Program at SUSE. “The ISV community is pleased because it allows them to use their existing test methodology to ensure compatibility with SUSE products. Customers appreciate having confidence their solutions are supported by the application experts – the partners who create them. SUSE Ready certifications have grown sharply over the last year, and extending SUSE Ready to SUSE CaaS Platform will further expand the ecosystem and create value for more partners and customers.”

Containers speed application delivery, facilitate application portability, and enable a new class of high-performing cloud native applications. As container use grows, ISVs are increasingly offering a container deployment option for their applications, according to a recent survey of the SUSE ISV ecosystem. SUSE CaaS Platform uses open source Kubernetes to provide enterprises with production-grade container orchestration at scale, answering the ISV need for a platform to manage their containerized software at customer locations.

SUSE Ready is a certification program that allows ISVs to test their applications with SUSE products to ensure interoperability. ISVs perform the testing required for them to support their solution in a SUSE environment. SUSE Ready applications are listed in the SUSE Partner Software Catalog, the primary source for customers looking for supported solutions to run with SUSE software. This searchable database of partner solutions allows ISVs to showcase applications that have been tested and certified with SUSE Linux Enterprise, SUSE OpenStack Cloud and SUSE Enterprise Storage. With the addition of SUSE CaaS Platform to the catalog, ISVs now have a central place to showcase all of their SUSE Ready applications and deployment options, whether physical, virtual, cloud or containerized.

A number of ISVs delivering applications that add value to container deployments are already SUSE Ready certified for SUSE CaaS Platform, including SAP, Micro Focus, Aqua Security, Avi Networks, Datadog, Dynatrace, JFrog, Minio, NeuVector, Pachyderm, Tymlez, Univa and XebiaLabs.

Rahul Tripathi, vice president of Product Management for Micro Focus, said, “As we continue with container delivery of our applications, SUSE Ready certification for SUSE CaaS Platform will be important to make sure customers can deploy Micro Focus containerized applications into a trusted environment. Having our containerized applications listed in a centralized location alongside our existing catalog entries will not only be great for exposing our customers to their various deployment options but also for leveraging our solutions to manage other SUSE Ready applications.”

Fei Huang, co-founder and CEO of NeuVector, said, “Customers want to be able to deploy Kubernetes applications with confidence, fully secured for production. SUSE Ready certification for SUSE CaaS Platform provides the confidence that the NeuVector multi-vector container firewall has been fully tested on SUSE CaaS Platform, giving them the ability to protect east-west container traffic, monitor containers for suspicious activity, and scan for vulnerabilities from a single security solution.”

ISVs can easily get started with SUSE Ready certification for SUSE CaaS Platform by joining the SUSE Partner Program, which also provides partner downloads, support, training and joint marketing opportunities for SUSE ISV partners. ISVs can work with SUSE to deploy their containerized applications in a SUSE CaaS Platform test environment for partners. For more information, visit www.suse.com/partners/isv/caas-platform.