Amsterdam, Netherlands — SUSE announced today at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe 2026 that it is transforming its open-source operating system heritage into a unified, AI-native infrastructure platform, merging AI services, containers, and virtual machines (VMs) under a single enterprise-grade foundation.
Pete Smails, SVP and general manager for cloud-native at SUSE, revealed the company's strategy to become the go-to infrastructure layer for modern, AI-driven workloads. “Ultimately, SUSE’s mission today is to be an open infrastructure platform for modern workloads,” Smails told The New Stack.
Background
Previously known primarily as an open-source operating system company, SUSE has been quietly evolving. Its core stack remains the operating system, but above it now sits a world-class build system focused on security and robustness.
Smails emphasized that this infrastructure is far from boring: “I know that sounds like boring plumbing, but it’s actually surprisingly relevant in today’s world of continuous integration and continuous delivery.”
The Orchestration Layer: SUSE Rancher Prime
Central to this strategy is SUSE Rancher Prime, the container management and Kubernetes orchestration layer. It enables enterprises to build and deploy cloud-native applications across any environment, from on-premises data centers to multiple public clouds.
SUSE has also integrated an open ecosystem for AI agents into Rancher Prime, providing enterprises with new automated operational tools. This move aligns with the company’s goal of unifying AI, containers, and VMs.
Unifying VMs and Containers for AI
Smails explained that the world is rapidly evolving toward using multiple data centers across multiple clouds. “This requires us to embrace not assimilation but unification of VMs and container management,” he said.
The unification allows software teams to capitalize on the potential of AI and redefine their own operational simplicity. SUSE Virtualization now serves as a stable foundation for modernizing legacy infrastructure while further unifying VM and container management.
Meet Liz: SUSE’s AI-Powered Agent
At the conference, SUSE introduced Liz, a context-aware AI agent integrated into the Rancher Prime environment. Dressed as a giant fluffy green lizard, Liz is designed to assist software engineers in daily tasks.
“Imagine Liz as one of your software engineering team crew,” Smails said. “Liz goes out searching across your deployment environment and might come back and say – oh, you’ve got a couple CVEs, would you like me to go see if there are clean versions of these applications?”
This AI agent enables engineers to interact directly, automating vulnerability scanning and remediation, thereby accelerating development cycles.
What This Means
SUSE’s pivot to an AI-native infrastructure platform signals a broader industry trend: open-source companies are moving beyond operating systems to become full-stack enablers of AI workloads. By unifying VMs and containers under one management layer, SUSE reduces operational complexity for enterprises juggling hybrid and multi-cloud strategies.
The integration of AI agents like Liz highlights a shift toward proactive, automated infrastructure management. For businesses, this could mean faster deployment of AI applications, improved security posture, and lower operational costs.
SUSE’s strategy positions it as a key player in the AI era, challenging more established cloud infrastructure providers with an open, flexible foundation.