Unlocking the true potential of hybrid cloud with Red Hat partners

Today, we announced that IBM’s landmark acquisition of Red Hat has closed and shared our vision for how our two companies will move forward together. 

You’ve heard that IBM is committed to preserving Red Hat’s independence, neutrality, culture and industry partnerships, and that Red Hat’s unwavering commitment to open source remains unchanged. 

There is a key part of that statement I want to focus on—partnerships. 

IBM has made a significant investment to acquire Red Hat, and respects that Red Hat wouldn’t be Red Hat without our partner ecosystem. Partners open more doors for open source than we can alone and are vital to our success. 

Looking ahead, the best way for us to thrive is not only to preserve our partner ecosystem but also to extend our relationships. Importantly, IBM and Red Hat will operate separate partner programs and cultivate distinct partner ecosystems. Together, we will continue to build and expand our work with organizations around the world and across industries. 

What’s new today is that we have one of the largest, time-tested and recognized technology leaders standing behind us. With IBM there is a multiplier for our partners and we will open those pathways where it makes sense. 

One major area of opportunity is open hybrid cloud. Our partner ecosystem will continue to help customers push their cloud strategies forward with accelerated enterprise offerings. We’ve been talking about hybrid cloud for years and have built a strong and flexible open hybrid cloud portfolio. Now, we’ll also have access to the scale and depth of IBM’s innovation and industry expertise, which our partners can take advantage of to build new services for customers. 

It really is the best of both worlds for our partners. There is an exciting opportunity in front of all of us to scale and accelerate our partner efforts while maintaining what we worked together to build. Together, we can unlock the true value of hybrid cloud for business.

Partners, be they our solution providers, Certified Cloud and Service Providers (CCSPs), global systems integrators, independent software vendors (ISVs), embedded, technology partners, or training partners play an important role in Red Hat’s future and strategy. We will also continue to build on our longstanding relationships with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) while welcoming new partners. 

Flexibility and choice are inherent to open source and hybrid IT, and that extends to our partner relationships. Whether you’re consulting, building and certifying technologies, or offering services and Red Hat solutions, we value your partnership.

We are working closely with IBM on synergies that will make it easier for partners interested in offering both Red Hat and IBM solutions to do so. Red Hat partners can apply to IBM PartnerWorld, and we invite IBM business partners to apply for Red Hat Partner Connect. Stay tuned for additional resources that will be made available to you. 

There is an underlying truth that has guided our ecosystem for years - we can create better solutions and solve customer challenges more quickly and creatively when we work together. That’s not going to change. Our investment in the partner ecosystem will continue to be a priority for us and we will approach our relationships with partners with the same open source spirit built on transparency, collaboration, engagement and community. We want the ecosystem to grow and to do that we need our partners to be actively involved in the strategy and development.

From where I sit, the future looks bright and my hope is that that we enter into our next phase focused on opportunities. Red Hat partners are a vital part of Red Hat’s business and will continue to play an important role in the future.