Red Hat enriches channel partner programme
Open source solutions vendor Red Hat has announced the global launch of the Red Hat Certified Cloud and Service Provider programme, replacing Red Hat's existing Certified Cloud Provider programme.
The company says the new programme expands Red Hat's cloud ecosystem to include and better support distributors, managed service providers and other partners that are heavily involved in all aspects of hybrid cloud build-out, not just multi-tenant public clouds.
"The Certified Cloud and Service Provider programme is an important next step for one of Red Hat's key channels," says Mark Enzweiler, senior vice president, global partners and alliances, Red Hat.
"Our partners want to develop their businesses based on enterprise-ready open source technologies, and this global programme delivers new opportunities for recurring revenue to a diverse set of participating partners to expand their business with Red Hat," he says.
As the model for cloud providers expands to include private cloud build-outs, Linux container-based infrastructure and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) solutions, additional flexibility is needed to help these providers better meet customer needs for cloud-based Red Hat technologies, the company explains.
"The Red Hat Certified Cloud and Service Provider programme meets this need by not only broadening partner support, but by also expanding the choice of Red Hat solutions available to these partners," says Enzweiler.
As Red Hat continues to focus on delivering open source innovation to enterprise IT, the Certified Cloud and Service Provider portfolio is anticipated to grow to encompass these new, enterprise-ready technologies.
Additionally, customers are able to use Red Hat Cloud Access to deploy certain Red Hat product subscriptions on Red Hat Certified Cloud and Service Provider cloud offerings in an integrated and seamless manner.
Michael Ferris, senior director, Business Architecture, Red Hat, says, "Much like enterprise IT itself, the world of cloud computing is constantly evolving, especially with the growing promise of hybrid cloud approaches and Linux container-based architectures.
"The Red Hat Certified Cloud and Service Provider programme is designed to encompass nearly all service provider models, spanning the public cloud to on-site managed services, offering our customers a secure, stable and trusted partner ecosystem upon which to build their next-generation IT projects using Red Hat solutions," Ferris says.
Red Hat's Certified Cloud and Service Provider designation is awarded to Red Hat partners following validation by Red Hat. Each provider must meet testing and certification requirements to demonstrate that they can deliver a safe, scalable, supported and consistent environment for enterprise cloud deployments.
"The globally-unified programme provides customers, independent software vendors (ISVs), and partners with the confidence that Red Hat product experts have validated a given solution so that implementations can begin with a solid foundation," adds Ferris.
