Microsoft and Red Hat on Wednesday announced a deal that bridges their cloud technologies, which have been separated by the competing Windows and Linux platforms.
The partnership lets customers migrate their data to either Microsoft Azure or Red Hat Enterprise Linux. It also integrates features in both cloud systems so customers can use them interchangeably.
In addition, Microsoft is offering REHL as the preferred Linux choice on Microsoft Azure. In return, Microsoft Azure will become a Red Hat Certified Cloud and Service Provider, according to the companies.
Red Hat Cloud Access subscribers can, for example, run their own virtual machine images in Microsoft Azure, and Azure customers can run their data on Red Hat's application platform. The Red Hat applications include Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform, JBoss Web Server, Gluster Storage and OpenShift, the company's Platform as a Service offering.
Red Hat and Microsoft will work together in addressing common enterprise, independent software vendor and developer needs that until now have kept a wall between integrating data over both cloud architectures. This will let customers deploy and manage applications on Red Hat software across private and public clouds, according to the companies.
"This is one more confirmation -- if any more were needed -- that Linux is a permanent and important part of the enterprise IT armamentarium," said Andrew Atkinson, senior director of product marketing at Cloud Cruiser.
"Ultimately, it will mean greater demand for Linux skills in the enterprise, part and parcel of the expanding ecosystem," he told LinuxInsider.
Plan Planks
A key agreement in the partnership is the integration of Red Hat's On-Demand RHEL images in the Azure Marketplace. Red Hat will provide technical expertise to support the pay-as-you-go service, the company said.
That integration brings mutual enterprise-grade support to connect the two hybrid cloud environments. Giving customers the choice of cross-platform, cross-company support between Microsoft and Red Hat offerings is unprecedented in the public cloud, according to the companies.
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