Red Hat, Inc., has announced the Premier Cloud Provider Certification and Partner Program, designed to simplify and expand the adoption of cloud computing by enterprise customers. The program enables industry leaders in cloud computing to become certified to offer Red Hat technology solutions. Premier Cloud Provider Partners will collaborate with Red Hat on technical support, security updates, hardware certification, sales and marketing and business models. As part of the announcement, cloud computing pioneer Amazon Web Services will extend its technology relationship with Red Hat to become the first Red Hat Premier Cloud Provider Partner.

The Red Hat Premier Cloud Provider Program has been established to address the increased interest in cloud computing from Red Hat customers, both in building virtualized internal infrastructure systems and extending their applications into the clouds. Red Hat customers seek the flexibility to transfer and use Red Hat subscriptions on premise and/or in cloud environments, with support and compatibility. Red Hat customers have also requested the ability to rent elastic computing by-the-hour with access to consistent, technical support, security updates and compatibility with existing IT resources. This program aims to provide more flexibility for Red Hat customers when developing and deploying their applications.

In addition to customers, Red Hat has witnessed growing ISV partner interest in providing cloud offerings based on their applications certified on Red Hat Enterprise Linux and/or JBoss Enterprise Middleware. As part of its new program, Red Hat will work with customers to identify secure, optimized and supported cloud providers, and will work with ISVs to help enable delivery of cloud offerings with an on-ramp program that spans technology, business and support models.

"A robust ecosystem of solutions providers is emerging around cloud computing," said Mike Evans, vice president, Corporate Development at Red Hat. "We believe Red Hat's consistent dedication to open source and open standards will further the success of a strong cloud ecosystem. By bringing together thousands of Red Hat-certified applications, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, JBoss Enterprise Middleware and Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization we aim to deliver the next generation of computing architectures, today."

Building on the experience of delivering the first supported operating system and first supported middleware offering for Amazon Web Services, Red Hat is now growing its relationship by choosing Amazon Web Services as the first member of the Premier Cloud Provider Program.