CIQ and Google Cloud to provide unified support for Rocky Linux users

CIQ and Google Cloud have partnered to provide unified support for Rocky Linux.

Designed to be “100% bug-for-bug compatible” with Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Rocky Linux first debuted in 2021 as an alternative to the discontinued CentOS.

Per reports, Google Cloud is one of the first hyperscalers to back the Rocky Enterprise Software Foundation (RESF) in support of the community-supported, open-source Rocky Linux. The OS is also supported by CIQ, which is led by Gregory M. Kurtzer, one of CentOS's original founders.

"At Google Cloud, we are focused on delivering a great customer experience for enterprises by building a robust platform for running all Linux-based workloads," commented Venkat Gattamneni, senior product manager at Google Cloud. "As customers move to Rocky Linux, partnering with CIQ enables the next step in providing an optimized and supported experience to our customers.”

CIQ experts and Google Cloud’s support teams have now merged their expertise to provide enterprise-level support for Rocky Linux users.

Additionally, the duo is working together to ensure Rocky Linux images on Google Cloud Platform (GCP) are optimized for performance and are faster at supporting specialized Google infrastructure.

Rocky Linux is also garnering support from AWS, Azure, VMware, and Naver Cloud, among other cloud service providers, to enable a simplified, standardized, and optimized Linux Cloud SIG.

Rocky Linux Version 8 will continue to be supported until May 2029.

"We asked ourselves, how do we bring the best value to everyone?" recalls Gregory Kurtzer, CEO of CIQ and founder of Rocky Linux.

"Through this partnership, anytime you use our Rocky Linux on Google Cloud, CIQ, in conjunction with Google, has your back! From the cloud platform itself, all the way through the enterprise operating system, every aspect of using Google Cloud is supported by a single call to Google, and together, we are your escalation team," added Kurtzer.