Centorrino Technologies provides managed services and infrastructure to customers in government, defence, intelligence, financial services, professional services, healthcare and education across Australia. As a result, any infrastructure change must account for operational continuity, as well as security and hosting requirements.

The move also gives the company a more open-source-based path for its hosted infrastructure. That reduces reliance on proprietary licensing models at a time when many organisations are reviewing long-term vendor dependence and budget exposure.

Ben Henshall, general manager for Australia and New Zealand at SUSE, said the deal reflected growing demand for alternatives in enterprise virtualisation.

“What Centorrino Technologies has built is a strong example of how partners and end users are responding to the shifting economics of enterprise virtualisation,” Henshall said.

“Organisations are actively looking for alternatives, and we’re seeing that demand grow across both our partner and customer base. This migration demonstrates what’s possible when you combine open, enterprise-grade technology with a partner that knows how to deliver it at scale.”

While VMware remains widely used in enterprise data centres, customers and service providers have been reassessing their options since Broadcom completed its takeover and changed product packaging and licensing. That has created openings for alternative virtualisation platforms, particularly those built around open-source software.

Centorrino Technologies said economics were central to its decision, but it also framed the shift as an issue of commercial control. Customers, it said, wanted to reduce the risk of being tied to pricing decisions made by a single vendor.

“The licensing cost increases from major technology vendors create real pressure for customers, but also the opportunity for change. We needed a platform that offered long-term commercial certainty without compromising on enterprise-grade capability and that ensures our customers keep control of their infrastructure and costs, rather than being exposed to a single vendor’s pricing decisions. SUSE Virtualisation gave us that, and it has allowed us to build a migration practice that solves a problem we are seeing right across the market,” said Nicholas Iacobucci, chief technology officer at Centorrino Technologies.