SuSE Linux AG announced Wednesday that it has partnered with Nuremberg, Germany-based business application software maker SAP AG to give enterprise customers one-stop shopping when it comes to support services.
According to Waldorf, Germany-based SuSE, the new Cooperative Service Agreement will enable both SuSE and SAP to offer customer support for mission critical SAP business solutions on Linux Enterprise Server, powered by United Linux.
The collaboration of support will allow SuSE to solve problems down to the level of the Linux source code through the combined development of competence of the SuSE Labs. This will virtually guarantee operating security for entire IT infrastructures, SuSE said.
But according to SuSE, the new support partnership is just the tip of the iceberg. SuSE has been a global technology partner of SAP for some time and SAP’s only Linux distribution partner. Nuremberg, Germany-based Juergen Geck, CTO of SuSE told IT World Canada that the new arrangement is essentially to formalize processes and procedures in order to continue to bring enterprise customers high levels of support.
“What it means is that a customer of SAP and ours can call either party and will get the same support,” Geck said. “If a Canadian customer wants to have SAP supported on SuSE Linux Enterprise Server, they are going to get that support from SAP as well as support from SuSE if required.”
SuSE noted that the new agreement with SAP will solve issues that customers have historically had in dealing with the two companies. For instance, customers would typically be told to call SuSE after phoning SAP with technical operating system questions, the company said. With the new arrangement in place, engineers at both companies will be able to deliver the same answers and save customers’ time.
For more information, visit www.suse.com. SAP is on the Web at www.sap.com.
