When IBM cast its net around for a virtualization supplier for its new cloud play, it had plenty of choices. Big Blue could have gone with heavyweights VMware or Microsoft, but it went a different way.
IBM chose Red Hat’s virtualization technology for its new cloud, Server Watch reports. The move both expands IBM’s embrace of open source, and marks the third significant customer win for Red Hat this year.
As cloud computing deployments ramp up, so too does the competitive battle for the cloud infrastructure technology supporting those deployments.
Linux vendor Red Hat (NYSE: RHT) said Tuesday that it would be supplying IBM with the underlying virtualization technology for IBM’s new cloud.
Red Hat executives did not disclose financial specifics of the deal, though they did describe the win as a major one. The deal is the third major cloud virtualization technology win for Red Hat this year as it stakes a claim in the nascent market for cloud infrastructure.
“IBM could have chosen anything — they could have gone with VMware, Microsoft’s Hyper-V or something from kernel.org, but instead they chose Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization (RHEV),” Scott Crenshaw, vice president and general manager of Red Hat’s cloud business unit told InternetNews.com. “We think the evidence is clear that KVM is the virtualization technology of the future and that RHEV is our way of delivering that with an enterprise-class product.”