CIOs are embracing cloud to deliver I.T. applications and services to employees, partners and customers more flexibly and at lower cost.  As cloud moves from experimentation into the mainstream, OpenStack and other open source technologies have emerged as a catalyst for cloud innovation.

That's why Cisco today announced a significant expansion of our partnership with Red Hat. Together, we bring complementary strengths to the relationship:  Cisco is the industry leader in cloud infrastructure and integrated infrastructure, while Red Hat brings market leadership and deep domain expertise of open source and OpenStack.

Building on our collaboration around Cisco UCS, Cisco and Red Hat will accelerate collaborative engineering and product development around three key technologies:  OpenStack, Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) and Intercloud.  You'll see us bring together our flagship products, from Cisco UCS, Cisco ACI, and Cisco Intercloud Fabric, to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) OpenStack Platform and OpenShift by Red Hat.  We'll deliver integrated solutions for enterprise and service provider customers.

At the launch of the latest Cisco UCS platforms in New York City, we introduced the initial solution from this expanded relationship, UCS Integrated Infrastructure for Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform. With this integrated solution, mid-market and enterprise customers can more easily deploy OpenStack-based private clouds today, and also support Intercloud application mobility and portability in the future. Make sure to check out Jim McHugh's blog for the details on this new solution and the joint innovation you can expect from the Cisco and Red Hat partnership.

Cisco and Red Hat offer customers the most robust and open portfolio of integrated solutions for data center modernization, open hybrid cloud and big data to:

• Migrate off legacy platforms to reduce costs, improve efficiency, and accelerate performance
• Dynamically scale applications  and deliver services based on business needs
• Improve business insights to make better business decisions faster

Cisco Channel Partners also benefit with opportunities to grow their data center practices. Integrated solutions from Cisco and Red Hat enable partners to drive profitable growth and increase customer value with solutions that drive business outcomes. Cisco Validated Designs (CVDs) for Red Hat are fully tested and documented by Cisco engineers for fast, consistent and trouble-free deployments. They are also supported, channel-ready and approved for the Cisco Solution Incentive Program (SIP). You can find more information on Red Hat and Cisco solutions for UNIX migration and OpenStack in the Cisco Marketplace Solutions Catalog.

The partnership and new solution with Red Hat truly embodies the power of the Cisco Partner Ecosystem. Our joint engineering investments are creating enterprise-grade solutions that enable business innovation. These solutions empower channel partners to grow their business and capture new revenue opportunities. Customers can tap these proven platforms to use I.T. for competitive gain with faster time to market for new applications and services.

For more information on the Cisco and Red Hat partnership, please visit cisco.com/go/RedHat.