Building the Bridge

Companies like Docker Inc. are already working on solutions like Modernize Traditional Applications (MTA), which as the name implies, helps companies in containerizing their legacy applications without refactoring any code.

When asked whether SUSE is doing something similar to help its customers, Brauckmann said that certain conversations are happening where SUSE is consulting customers. However, they are not productizing anything that will convert a traditional application into a containerized application the way Docker's MTA does.

Because more and more customers might look into containerized solutions, Brauckmann sees that as an area of interest. Docker Inc. now offers Kubernetes, along with Swarm, as an orchestrator for Docker. SUSE uses Kubernetes in its own CaaS platform, so there is an increased possibility of a dialogue between the two companies around MTA.

Respect for Competitors

Red Hat recently revised their patent promise, and Brauckmann said that, although they compete with such players in the market, he is full of praise for Red Hat. "The company is doing a service to the innovative open source companies, because they are acquiring a pool of patents to defend against the improper use of patents. Being an open source company, we support all those public license agreements, and we have a lot of respect for that," he said.

SUSE is actively engaged in the defense mechanism. "We are part of the Open Invention Network [OIN]. Together with Red Hat, we strengthen that network through SUSE and Novell patents that are part of that portfolio. This pool of patents is used to defend open source against possible threats."

Commending Red Hat for their revised patent promise, he said, "I think what Red Hat is doing is an extension of [the] OIN idea, and I respect and applaud that."

That's exactly the kind of healthy open source culture we need.