This year’s VMworld 2013 was bigger than ever before, and it provided plenty of news opportunities. One last bit of VMworld news before we wrap up the week, and it has to do with open source. SUSE has been a VMware partner for some time, but the company announced an expanded partnership with the virtualization company. The result: SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for VMware is now available through VMware vCloud Hybrid Service.

According to SUSE, thousands of VMware customers are already using Linux Enterprise Server to run virtualized Linux workloads, and it looks like SUSE’s first target with the availability through vCloud Hybrid Service is that existing customer base. Those customers will be given the option of running their workloads on Linux Enterprise Server in the vCloud Hybrid Service. SUSE noted in its announcement that it gives customers greater flexibility for optimizing IT resources.

“Extending our partnership with VMware into the cloud is a boon for enterprise customers,” said Michael Miller, vice president of global alliances and marketing for SUSE, in a prepared statement. “SUSE Linux Enterprise Server is an ideal guest operating system for running Linux workloads in any virtual environment, notably VMware. Customers will be able to get these same benefits through VMware vCloud Hybrid Service.”

SUSE and VMware have had a fairly close relationship since 2010, when SUSE Linux Enterprise Server became the only Linux distribution bundled with VMware vSphere. This latest partnership expansion, which represents the first big cloud-specific step the companies are taking together, won’t really kick in until the fourth quarter when SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for VMware will officially launch on VMware vCloud Hybrid Service.

The one thing missing from the announcement is how this will affect channel partners. Will this provide additional opportunities for partners dealing in both VMware and SUSE? We’ll have to wait to see what the two companies have cooked up for their partners.