  The apparent unification of gauge couplings around 10^16 GeV is one of the
strong arguments in favor of Supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model
(SM). In this contribution a new analysis, using the latest experimental data,
is performed. The strong coupling alpha_s emerges as the key factor for
evaluating the results of the fits, as the experimental and theoretical
uncertainties in its measurements are substantially higher than for the
electromagnetic and weak couplings. The present analysis pays special attention
to numerical and statistical details. The results, combined with the current
limits on the supersymmetric particle masses, favor a value for the SUSY scale
<~ 150 GeV and for alpha_s = 0.118-0.119.
