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SUSE Boosts Cloud Native Capabilities with Amazon Linux Compatibility
SUSE applies its extensive Enterprise Linux knowledge to deliver a stable, secure, and community-aligned model through SPAL.
12/02/2025
Key Highlights:
- The SUSE collaboration provides Amazon Linux 2023 AL2023 with immediate access to thoroughly vetted open source packages SPAL, which are derived from the EPEL repository and are essential for expanding functionality and supporting diverse enterprise workloads.
- By leveraging SUSE's expertise in repackaging and securing components, the SPAL offering eliminates high operational overhead for users who previously had to compile complex dependencies, enabling customers to focus on innovation instead of package maintenance.
- This arrangement significantly benefits clients in regulated markets by combining SUSE's reliable enterprise capabilities with AL2023's stability and AWS infrastructure, thus simplifying compliance and reducing operational risk while lowering $\text{TCO}$.
- The SPAL packages are driving AL2023 adoption and ecosystem growth by plugging a critical package gap, positioning SUSE as a preferred Enterprise Linux partner for the AWS ecosystem and moving the competitive landscape toward the supported open source application layer.
- To maximize influence, SUSE must aggressively integrate SPAL with its cloud-native stack (Rancher Prime and NeuVector) over the next 12 months, marketing this complete, securely-vetted solution to enterprise customers to extend AL2023's value proposition.
The News
SUSE, a provider of enterprise open source solutions, announced a collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) aimed at enriching the cloud native Linux experience for Amazon Linux. As part of this agreement, SUSE delivers thousands of additional, enterprise-grade open source packages through the new Supplementary Packages for Amazon Linux (SPAL) service. This expands the toolset available to customers already leveraging Amazon Linux for their applications. For more information, read the SUSE press release.
Analyst Take
The SUSE collaboration immediately provides Amazon Linux 2023 (AL2023) with access to thoroughly vetted open source packages, which are built upon the Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux (EPEL) repository and are carefully tailored for enterprise use. This expands the functionality and customization options available to Amazon Linux users, offering quick support for a wide range of modern enterprise workloads. Furthermore, we find that SUSE's specialized expertise in repackaging, delivering, and securing these components can enable customers to focus on innovation instead of the burden of package maintenance.
This arrangement brings SUSE's specialized expertise in maintaining, testing, and securing thousands of popular open source packages directly to AWS customers, which in turn lowers the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and improves operational agility for deploying complex enterprise software stacks. Customers developing external products and services on Amazon Linux 2023 can now combine SUSE's reliable enterprise Linux capabilities with the trusted AWS infrastructure. This synergy is especially beneficial for clients operating in regulated markets or environments where stability and long-term viability are critical, as it significantly simplifies compliance and reduces operational risk.
AL2023 Gains Momentum with Enterprise-Ready SPAL Package Support
From our perspective, AL2023 is gaining widespread adoption and ecosystem support primarily because the introduction of SPAL, which are thoroughly vetted open source packages derived from the EPEL repository, addresses a critical gap. Previously, users relied on manually compiling complex dependencies or using potentially unstable, unvetted third-party repositories to extend AL2023's core functionality, which created a high operational overhead.
SPAL eliminates this friction by providing thousands of pre-built, compatible packages such as Docker, Nginx, and Zabbix, that can be installed with a simple command. This broadens AL2023’s functionality for diverse enterprise workloads, making it a viable and attractive platform for workloads that depend on a rich open source ecosystem, thereby accelerating development and simplifying the migration of workloads from older Amazon Linux versions.
This extended package access augments AL2023's core strengths: its tight integration with AWS services, a deterministic update process that locks the operating system to a specific, tested package repository version, and a predictable five-year support lifecycle. The combination of enterprise-grade stability and security, along with ready access to a broad and vetted open source ecosystem, can lower the TCO and improve operational agility.
Organizations, especially those in regulated markets or with strict security and long-term viability requirements, can now confidently choose AL2023 for a wider array of production use cases, knowing they have a dependable base OS and a supported path for essential software, ultimately driving greater community confidence and accelerating its ecosystem growth.
SUSE Reshaping the Competitive Landscape
SUSE's strategy of boosting cloud native capabilities via compatibility with AL2023 provides a strong competitive differentiator, particularly against its primary rival, Red Hat. By offering thoroughly vetted, enterprise-ready open source packages (SPAL) that effectively plug a key ecosystem gap in AL2023, SUSE is positioning itself as the preferred Enterprise Linux partner for the AWS ecosystem without requiring customers to adopt SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) directly.
This approach can successfully leverage the massive, entrenched installed base of AL2023 and AWS's cloud-native services (like EKS), attracting customers who want the stability and predictable lifecycle of AL2023 but need the rich, supported package selection traditionally associated with rival enterprise distributions. This moves the competitive battleground from the OS core to the open source application layer and the accompanying support services.
Looking Ahead
We believe that SUSE is demonstrating strong ecosystem momentum as the Amazon Linux team has specifically chosen to leverage SUSE's deep Linux expertise and secure toolchain for delivering these packages to their user base. This strategic collaboration drives mutual success and allows SUSE to effectively extend its foundational commitment to security, reliability, and quality to a much broader community of cloud users.
From our view, to boost the competitiveness and ecosystem influence of its AL2023 compatibility over the next 12 months, SUSE must tightly integrate SPAL with its core cloud-native product portfolio. Specifically, they should prioritize certifying and demonstrating interoperability between SPAL packages and SUSE Rancher Prime for Kubernetes management on Amazon EKS, and SUSE NeuVector for container security.
This not only validates AL2023 as a first-class base OS for SUSE's modern stack, but also positions SUSE as the single vendor that can provide the base operating system enhancement, management plane, and security layer for cloud-native workloads on AWS's preferred Linux distribution. Crucially, they need to aggressively market this complete, simplified, and securely-vetted stack to large enterprises and highly regulated markets, emphasizing TCO savings, reduced compliance complexity, and a single point of enterprise support that extends the AL2023 value proposition beyond basic OS patching.
Ron Westfall | VP and Practice Leader for Infrastructure and Networking
Ron Westfall is a prominent analyst figure in technology and business transformation. Recognized as a Top 20 Analyst by AR Insights and a Tech Target contributor, his insights are featured in major media such as CNBC, Schwab Network, and NMG Media.
His expertise covers transformative fields such as Hybrid Cloud, AI Networking, Security Infrastructure, Edge Cloud Computing, Wireline/Wireless Connectivity, and 5G-IoT. Ron bridges the gap between C-suite strategic goals and the practical needs of end users and partners, driving technology ROI for leading organizations.
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Don Gentile | Analyst-in-Residence -- Storage & Data Resiliency
Don Gentile brings three decades of experience turning complex enterprise technologies into clear, differentiated narratives that drive competitive relevance and market leadership. He has helped shape iconic infrastructure platforms including IBM z16 and z17 mainframes, HPE ProLiant servers, and HPE GreenLake — guiding strategies that connect technology innovation with customer needs and fast-moving market dynamics.
His current focus spans flash storage, storage area networking, hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI), software-defined storage (SDS), hybrid cloud storage, Ceph/open source, cyber resiliency, and emerging models for integrating AI workloads across storage and compute. By applying deep knowledge of infrastructure technologies with proven skills in positioning, content strategy, and thought leadership, Don helps vendors sharpen their story, differentiate their offerings, and achieve stronger competitive standing across business, media, and technical audiences.