SUSE Delivers Seamless Retail Operations With SUSE Edge Suite And Edge 3.2

Sydney, Australia - January 13, 2025 - SUSE®, a global leader in innovative, open and secure enterprise-grade solutions, announced key momentum for its SUSE Edge solutions for retail, including SUSE Edge 3.2 and SUSE Edge Suite.

The retail industry is experiencing a significant transformation due to the rapid advancement of edge computing. SUSE Edge solutions for retail address critical needs for retailers and provide open infrastructure software to create innovative solutions such as responsive merchandising, fraud and theft prevention, real-time inventory management, and smart payment systems for improved customer experiences, reduced costs, and staff efficiency.

“SUSE is committed to delivering edge solutions that empower retailers to succeed in today’s competitive environment,” said Keith Basil, SUSE’s General Manager for the Edge Business Unit. “SUSE Edge Suite and SUSE Edge 3.2 are transformative for retailers needing a comprehensive set of tools and capabilities to optimise their edge operations, enhance security, and accelerate innovation.”

To enable and simplify customer innovation, SUSE has unveiled SUSE Edge Suite, a comprehensive bundle that combines capabilities from SUSE's Linux and Rancher offerings into a complete solution for Retail Edge scenarios. Benefits include:

• Enhanced Operational Efficiency and Reduced Costs: SUSE’s edge solutions ensure consistent and reliable performance across stores, warehouses, and beyond, resulting in improved operational efficiency and reduced costs.
• Robust Security: With SUSE’s robust security features, retailers can protect critical systems, such as point-of-sale (POS) systems and customer data, from cyber threats and exfiltration, and ensure compliance.
• Accelerated Innovation: SUSE’s flexible open source platform supports the rapid deployment of new capabilities and use cases that enhance customer experience and drive business growth. This includes use cases such as responsive merchandising and smart payments that build on technologies such as data analytics, automation, and AI/ML.
• Fraud Detection and Prevention: With SUSE’s edge solutions, data is processed real-time, allowing for quick identification and notification of suspicious activities. This enables eCommerce platforms to take immediate action to prevent fraud.

SUSE Edge Suite is based on SUSE Edge 3.2, the latest version of its edge computing platform. Newly launched SUSE Edge 3.2 includes a number of new features and enhancements, including:

• Validated designs that ensure consistent and easy deployment on commonly used hardware and system architectures
• Automation to lower the cost of lifecycle management - image build patch and deploy
• Flexible pricing models and bundles that align with the varied business models and scale needs of retailers.
• Zero touch deployment
• Highly integrated comprehensive edge stack that supports AI/ML workloads, and GenAI models deployed by the retailers.

Forrester Report Highlights Edge Computing Obstacles in Retail
SUSE recently commissioned a Forrester Consulting study titled “Elevate In-Store Experiences and Streamline Operations with Retail-Savvy Edge Partners.” This study found key challenges facing retailers including security concerns, the need to upskill staff and scaling new edge solutions, all barriers which are addressed with SUSE’s edge solutions and expertise. The study also found that while retailers are deploying a diverse array of edge technologies, the breadth of edge scenarios has made it difficult for retailers to keep up with new solution implementations. The report found that retail decision-makers prioritise using edge computing to anticipate customer needs and improve operational efficiency. The study also shed light on the the follow key areas:

• Increased Operational efficiencies at the edge: 71% of respondents are keenly focused on increasing operational efficiency at their stores over the next 12-18 months. To achieve operational efficiency, 44% of respondents are planning to deploy fraud detection/reduction use cases. Additional operational efficiencies can be enabled by transitioning to containerised infrastructure, which 43% of respondents plan to do within the year.
• Open Source and retail: 80% of respondents identified open source as important or very important for their edge application strategy, and 67% felt the same about using open source in their edge infrastructure strategy.
• Partnerships drive success: 91% of respondents are currently partnering or planning to partner to achieve key retail edge computing goals

SUSE will be showcasing its edge solutions at the National Retail Federation (NRF) 2025 conference and expo, Booth #4140, Level 3, New York City, January 12-14, 2025.

SUSE Edge 3.2 and SUSE Edge Suite are available now. 

The full Forrester report can be found here.

Additional Resources
Edge Computing for Retail Growth Infographic

About SUSE
SUSE is a global leader in innovative, reliable and secure enterprise open source solutions, including SUSE Linux Suite, SUSE Rancher Suite, SUSE Edge Suite and SUSE AI Suite. More than 60% of the Fortune 500 rely on SUSE to power their mission-critical workloads, enabling them to innovate everywhere – from the data center to the cloud, to the edge and beyond. SUSE puts the “open” back in open source, collaborating with partners and communities to give customers the agility to tackle innovation challenges today and the freedom to evolve their strategy and solutions tomorrow.

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