SuSE Linux Names Key Technology, Marketing and Alliance Executives

SuSE Linux Names Key Technology, Marketing and Alliance Executives
Selects Burson-Marsteller and J. Walter Thompson for PR and Marketing services

Oakland, CA/Nuremberg, Germany, April 24 - SuSE Linux today named three key
executives and announced the selection of new public relations and
marketing agencies - enhancing the company's worldwide marketing,
technology and partnering capabilities.

Effective immediately, Juergen Geck, formerly vice president, Technology
Partners, will be the company's Chief Technology Officer. Uwe Heine --
based in Oakland, California -- joins SuSE as Chief Alliance Officer and
Dr. Uwe Schmid joins SuSE as vice president, Business Development and
Marketing. The company also tapped Burson-Marsteller and J. Walter Thompson
to develop and implement an international, integrated branding and
communications program.

"SuSE is bringing together the best of the open source community and now
combining it with the business experience needed to drive the next economic
quantum leap," said Richard Seibt, CEO, SuSE Linux. "These changes not only
will enable us to continue to create the best open source technology
available, but also to make the most from our partnerships, and to better
communicate as a company."

Geck, 35, joined SuSE in 1997, and served since early 2000 as vice
president Technology Partners. Geck built strong alliances with partners
AMD, Fujitsu-Siemens-Computers, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Oracle and
SAP. Geck built a framework for SuSE to cooperate with all major hardware
vendors and CPU manufacturers. In 2002 he introduced SuSE's Technology
Partner Program to provide a scalable offering for all SuSE partners. Geck
also helped design SuSE's flagship product, SuSE Linux Enterprise Server
and its maintenance model, enabling the first enterprise Linux offering in
the market. Geck holds a masters degree in production engineering from the
University of Erlangen, Germany. Geck will be responsible for aligning and
communicating the company's technology strategy.

Boris Nalbach, SuSE's CTO since Jan 2002, has decided to leave the company
in June to pursue other interests in the technology industry. Nalbach was
instrumental in bringing an enterprise focus to SuSE Linux, shaping company
and product strategy -- including championing SuSE's single source code
strategy and bringing a process-driven focus to business implementation. He
was also essential in driving SuSE's partnership focus, implementing
customers' and technology partners' needs. He will continue to work on
special business enablement projects for SuSE Linux.

Heine, 46, brings to SuSE more than fifteen years in IT and strategic
alliance programs -- including ten years at Compaq and four years at Siebel
Systems, where he served as director of a variety of alliance departments
including HP Global Strategic Alliances, International Alliances, and
Platform Alliances. He most recently served as director of HP Global
Strategic Alliances at Siebel. Heine earned an MBA from Colorado State as a
Fulbright Scholar, as well as a degree in international business/marketing
from Fachhochschule Bielefeld, Germany.

Dr. Schmid, 40, joins SuSE from Mentor Graphics, where he worked as
managing director for the company's data management systems business unit
and had responsibility for business development, product strategy and
development. Prior to that, he was vice president for product marketing and
pricing at i2 Technologies in Dallas, Texas, where he oversaw the
repositioning of i2's software. His other career experiences include senior
leadership stints at SAP AG and McKinsey & Company. Schmid has a degree
in physics from the University of Ulm in Germany and received a master's
degree in science from Oregon State University on a Fulbright Scholarship
and his doctorate at the Max Planck Institute in Stuttgart, Germany.

Burson-Marsteller, a global leader in public relations and strategic
communications, will work with SuSE Linux to build its brand in the media
in the United States, United Kingdom and Germany as a leader in the Open
Source community.  Kevin Kutz, a director in Burson-Marsteller's Chicago
Media Practice, will lead this effort with an international account team of
professionals based in San Francisco, Chicago, New York, London and
Frankfurt.

J. Walter Thompson, the world's fourth largest advertising agency, has been
appointed as worldwide lead brand agency. J. Walter Thompson will work with
SuSE to develop a strategic, worldwide branding campaign - including
corporate identity, product branding and marketing and advertising
campaigns. The agency brings significant experience with high tech, global
accounts, including work with Siemens and Infineon.

About SuSE Linux 

SuSE Linux is the international technology leader and solutions provider in
Open Source operating system software. SuSE's unique expertise in Linux and
its largest development team worldwide dedicated to Open Source software
has contributed to the recognition of SuSE as the most complete Linux
solution available today. SuSE Linux is a privately held company focused
entirely on supporting the Linux community and Open Source development. For
more information, please visit www.suse.com.

SuSE is a registered trademark of SuSE Linux AG. Linux is a registered
trademark of Linus Torvalds. All other trademarks mentioned herein are the
property of their respective owners.

Pressekontakt:

SuSE Linux AG 
Christian Egle 
Deutschherrnstr. 15-19
90429 Nürnberg 	
Tel. 0911/7 40 53-44
Fax 0911/7 41 7755 
E-Mail ce@suse.de