Software-defined infrastructure and open source infrastructure provider SUSE has appointed Grant Bennett as country manager for South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa.

According to information supplied by the company the appointment is effective from July and Bennett will be responsible to "support and grow strong market alignment for SUSE's brand locally" and to position the company as the choice solution provider of pure Open "Open" source Linux distribution in Africa.

Bennett takes over from Matthew Lee who, after 7 years at the helm, moves to focus on the SUSE ISV/HSV business as Cloud and Strategic Alliances Manager.

"I want to drive greater brand awareness and solidify our presence in South Africa and the sub-Saharan African regions. I will also be focused on supporting and growing our channel and partner eco-systems through enablement and training to bring value to customers on what SUSE really has to offer. In essence, my aim is to support our customers on their journey to an entire software defined data centre," said Bennett.

The company claims that Linux is the operating system behind more than 95% of "the top one million domains" and "in excess of 80% of smartphones are running Android (based on the Linux kernel."

A statement released by the company reads: "Having been involved in the technology sector for 18 years, Grant brings a wealth of knowledge and insight into the dynamics and strategies required to ensure that SUSE South Africa continues to penetrate and drive market capitalisation in the sector."

Said Bennett,"I have a vision be the number one solution provider of pure Open "Open" source SUSE Linux solutions in Africa and I am very excited to have joined this team and look forward to not only promoting our business growth, but continuing to meet enterprise transformation demands."