securelinx

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Kubernetes & Rancher Training

To celebrate the release of Rancher 2.6 we are currently offering a 26% discount off all signups to our next guaranteed to run online introduction courses for both Rancher and Kubernetes this November.

Introduction to Kubernetes (KUB201)

November 16th/17th (9:30am - 4:30pm GMT)

This two day course is designed for system administrators, DevOps, system engineers and others who need an introduction to using Kubernetes to run Containers. Attendees will be learn about Containers and Orchestration Concepts, and Networking, Storage and Security for Kubernetes

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Introduction to Rancher (RAN201)

November 18th/19th (9:30am - 4:30pm GMT)

This two day course begins with an introduction to Rancher Server and its architecture. Students will then learn how to access the Rancher Server’s graphical user interface. The course covers Kubernetes cluster management for existing infrastructure, deployment of new clusters with RKE, and hosted Kubernetes providers deployments in the public clouds.

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Securelinx is a fully authorised award winning SUSE Training partner with experienced and authorized instructors available across all of SUSE's product portfolio. Our Virtual Instructor Led Training capability means we can continue to deliver our full range of training options while people are working remotely. To explain how it works, we have created this short video.

Our Rancher 2.6 launch offer for training sees our course fees reduced on a one off basis by 26% - with the 2 day course now costing €962 or £825 per attendee. For more information about either of our courses, or to enquire about booking a place at a session please contact us via our website and a member of our team will get in touch.

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SUSECON ‘20

Securelinx is delighted to announce that SUSE's premier global Open Source event SUSECon will take place in the Convention Centre Dublin on March 23rd to 27th. This will be the largest Open Source technology event happening in Ireland this year. Securelinx is proud to be a sponsor of this major event as it represents a significant opportunity for local customers, partners and organisations to experience all that SUSE and Open Source can offer the enterprise IT sector.

Who Is SUSE?

As a global Open Source Vendor, SUSE works with an ecosystem of partners and communities to deliver enterprise-grade, open source software-defined infrastructure and application delivery solutions backed by superior service and support. SUSE is the world’s largest independent Linux company.

SUSECon Dublin

With SUSECON 2020 you can lead your company into a digital transformation by learning how to apply reliable, secure open source solutions to meet the demands of your business. At the event, you will discover the latest developments in enterprise-class Linux, Ceph storage, Kubernetes, Cloud Foundry and other cutting edge open source projects.

You will meet leading technical experts, ecosystem partners and your peers from around the world. You will learn about the technology from those who are creating it and gain new insights to solve your current business problems and better position you for the future.

Attendance at SUSECON provides the best content and value of any conference in the industry, from hands-on training to complimentary certifications to meeting with experts — it’s all here! If you would like more information on how to attend SUSECon or how Securelinx can help you to do that, contact us on +353 1 5065615 

Who Are Securelinx?

Securelinx is an award-winning Enterprise Linux and Open Source solutions supplier. We have been at the forefront of Linux adoption since 2002 and today have a broad portfolio that includes hybrid cloud infrastructure, Kubernetes, High Performance Computing (HPC) & Artificial Intelligence (AI), management frameworks and storage - all designed to assist organisations become more agile, efficient, and interconnected.

Securelinx provides Linux based infrastructure solutions such as subscriptions, services, support and training to customers throughout Ireland and the UK. We win and retain customers through the provision of superior Open Source expertise, dedicated service and exceptional commitment to customer satisfaction. Holding the highest levels of partner recognition for the leading providers of enterprise Linux, Securelinx comprises teams of highly experienced, trained and certified Linux engineers.

Our technical project delivery skills have proved so popular that our work now takes us beyond Ireland and the UK and into Europe. Securelinx is a pure play Open Source company - it is in our DNA for the last 18 years, so if you believe as we do that Open Source is the best way to enhance your IT infrastructure, then we are here to help.

Our messaging is simple – If you want a lower cost IT infrastructure, without compromising on performance or security, then consider engaging with enterprise grade Open Source solutions. Securelinx can show you how. 

Securelinx & SUSE Relationship

Securelinx has been a key SUSE Partner since 2004 and comprises the largest selection of SUSE Certified Linux Engineers in Ireland. This strength and depth across the entire SUSE solution portfolio has resulted in Securelinx being recognised as one of an elite group of global Solution Partners.

Securelinx is also the sole Authorised Training Partner for SUSE within Ireland and the UK, delivering in-depth technical training for customers throughout the region. Recognised by SUSE as the most technically competent partner within Ireland and the UK, Securelinx provides enterprise grade support and training to numerous organisations running SUSE Linux in both countries.

SUSE Linux delivers a comprehensive set of time-saving installation, configuration, deployment and administration tools and has found particular success with the following product portfolios: As one of a select number of SUSE Solution Partners globally and a Partner since 2003 Securelinx offers unrivalled expertise for the entire software stack along with services, support, and training.  For more information please visit our website or get in touch.

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Extending SUSE HPC to create an AI/ML Platform

Building on our work presented at SUSECON last year at this year’s event we will present our work on developing an AI/ML platform.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning have the potential to impact significantly on all our lives. The proliferation of data generating devices requires significant capacity and compute power to unlock value from within this data.

Organizations who have invested in high performance computing and skills recognise the close parallels with AI and Machine learning.

Traditionally the modelling and simulation problems of high performance computing have called for powerful and dense arrays of CPU and storage. Organisations use SUSE HPC with SLURM to efficiently manage the resources needed, and may cloud burst with technologies such as Securelinx Hybrid Cloud for HPC to handle peak loads.

Case for leveraging AI/ML on existing HPC

AI and machine learning are sister technologies to HPC, requiring similar compute and IO resources and facing similar workload challenges.  For many organisations the advantages of AI / ML are already clear, but organisations are asking how they can leverage existing skills and hardware investments to meet the needs of AI?  They are wondering how to become more agile and quickly take advantage of the rapidly evolving GPU landscape? How can they maintain vendor flexibility and avoid lock in and walled gardens? And how can they improve user productivity on these new platforms by developing, driving and scaling the system all through a single user friendly interface? 

Extensions needed for AI

Where traditional HPC users are CPU heavy, command line driven and rely on cluster administrators to compile software and manage dependencies, Machine learning has taken off as a technology after the advent of devops, where containers are the norm and where CPU and/or GPU become the limiting resource to be efficiently managed both on premise and in the cloud.

ML users expect

Graphical productivity tooling out of the box

To use openly shared containers

To be able to utilize an array of hardware resources

To adapt on timescales below the hardware refresh cycle

The Securelinx solution

We present an integrated AI/ML solution with SLES for HPC as our engine, jupyter as the familiar graphical front end and building on our existing slurm based multi-cloud HPC solution. Our solution allows administrators to adapt to today’s environment of heterogeneous clusters of CPU/GPU nodes running on multi cloud that retains first class support for traditional HPC, adds AI container based multi-cloud workflows using slurm, and all with a graphical front end most familiar to the bulk of data scientists and machine learning experts.

SUSECon 2020 will be running in Dublin from March 23rd to 27th. For more information about attending please get in touch.

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SUSECON 2020 Coming to Dublin

Securelinx is delighted to announce that SUSE's premier global event SUSECON will take place in the Convention Centre Dublin on March 23rd to 27th. Securelinx is proud to be a sponsor of this major Open Source event as it represents a significant opportunity for local customers, partners and organisations to experience all that SUSE can offer the enterprise IT sector.

At SUSECON 2020, you will learn the latest developments in enterprise-class Linux, Ceph storage, Kubernetes, Cloud Foundry and other open source projects from technical experts, ecosystem partners and your peers from around the world. You will learn about the technology from those who are creating it and gain new insights to solve your current business problems and better position you for the future.

Your SUSECON pass brings you the best content and value of any conference in the industry, from hands-on training to complimentary certifications to meeting with experts — it’s all here!

You can register for SUSECON 2020 here.

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Twitter followers may have already spotted Securelinx MD Brian Farrell speaking at Goonhilly earlier today at an event hosted to mark their data centre opening and as part of their celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the moon landing.

Reflecting afterwards Brian (right) said:

I was delighted to have been asked to join the future of HPC compute panel at Goonhilly Earth Station’s new data centre launch yesterday. A totally unique location and opportunity for Satellite and deep sea cable data to be processed and analysed.

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SUSE Expert Day Dublin 2019

Packed agenda here for this years Expert Day at the Aviva

Many great sessions here including our own Senior Linux Architect Eoghan Cotter updating everyone on some of the SUSE integration projects we’ve undertaken recently, including Hybrid Cloud for HPC

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The video from our SUSECon talk about the Securelinx Hybrid Cloud for HPC solution is available. If you’d like any more information on the solution please just get in touch.

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SUSE Expert Day 2018

We are happy to announce that Securelinx will be sponsoring the upcoming SUSE Expert Day in Dublin this year.

The event is taking place in Dublin in the Aviva Staduim on Thursday 26th April. This is a one day event running from 9am to 5pm, with conversations and demonstrations for IT professionals, providing expert information for you and your IT departments.

This one-day event will focus on the following topics:

Learn how to evolve today’s workloads with the latest open source technologies, while leveraging and optimizing infrastructure you already have.

Learn how Software-defined storage and cloud solutions help you quickly respond to changing business needs.

Learn how you can innovate using the latest open source software-defined infrastructure and application delivery solutions and leverage automation throughout the DevOps process, which improves IT agility, efficiency and speed to market.

Follow the link to the registration page below for more information on the event. We hope you can make it are we look forward to see you.

We have attached a link for your free registration for the event and for further information concerning the Expert Day here:

We look forward to seeing you there!

[securelinx]

SUSE Expert Day Dublin

We are happy to announce that Securlinx will be sponsoring the upcoming SUSE Expert Day in Dublin this year.

The event is taking place in Dublin in the Guinness Storehouse on Tuesday 28th February. This is a one day event running from 9am to 4:30pm, with conversations and demonstrations for IT professionals, providing expert information for you and your IT departments.

This one-day event will focus on the following topics:

How open source solutions built on the Linux platform can help you rise to the challenge of the digital transformation

How to deploy a software-defined infrastructure and delivering as-a-service with OpenStack, Kubernetes, Ceph, and Cloud Foundry

How to improve business agility using an open DevOps approach

Follow the link to the registration page below for more information on the event. We hope you can make it are we look forward to see you.

We have attached a link for your free registration for the event and for further information concerning the Expert Day here:

We look forward to seeing you there!

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Securelinx Microsoft Partner Event

Did you know that over 30% of all workloads running in Azure today are Linux based?

This capability to run business critical Linux workloads within Azure represents a significant opportunity for Irish enterprises to leverage a trusted Public Cloud. Securelinx are a Microsoft certified Partner and very pleased to invite you to our upcoming co-hosted Linux in Azure event.

This education workshop will highlight a number of specific use cases for running enterprise Linux within Azure and also offer the opportunity for attendees to submit proposals for a select number Technical Decision Makers of funded proof of concepts.

The event is suitable for Technical Decision Makers and will take place on the 26th January 2017. 

More details on the event and where to register can be found here.

We look forward to welcoming you to this event.

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Merger of HPE and Microfocus

The big news last month was the merger deal between Micorfocus (the parent company of SUSE) and HPE’s Software Business Segment which was valued at approximately $8.8 billion. The deal creates one of the industry’s largest pure-play enterprise software companies. In theory the deal should provide stronger go-to-market capabilities along with providing larger R&D resources.

With the deal 50.1% ownership of the company belongs to HPE shareholders and is expected to close in Quarter 3 next year. As part of the merger, Microfocus and HPE announced their intent to enter into a commercial partnership naming SuSE as HPE’s preferred Linux partner. The deal brings together two big and well developed enterprise software vendors with complementary portfolios.

Although there isn’t a lot of information regarding specifics of what the merger will mean, the press releases stressed there will be focus on areas such as cloud computing, software-defined networking and application platforms. The pair will look to explore additional collaboration for innovations around SUSE’s OpenStack, HPE’s Helion OpenStack and Stackato to provide enterprise-ready hybrid cloud offerings.

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SUSE and Mirantis Deal - An Interesting Turn of Events

This month saw the announcement of an interesting deal in the Linux, Open Source community. SUSE and Mirantis will now work together and become strategic partners. This deal brings together SUSE which is one the world's largest enterprise Linux solutions provider with Mirantis, who focus on OpenStack support and development and the provision of Open Source cloud solutions.

The deal means that customers can now run Mirantis OpenStack on SLES which will be fully supported by both companies. More specifically Mirantis will take on L1 and L2 support, collaborating alongside SUSE in order to look after the backend OS L3 support. This deal should ensure regular testing, validation and lead to optimisation of their respective solutions.

Furthermore and perhaps more tellingly - the deal allows SUSE to support Red Hat Enterprise Linux implementations run by Mirantis customers via their “Expanded Support” offering. This additional enterprise support offering, as far as Mirantis is concerned, is all the company needs to begin selling its OpenStack distribution to Red Hat's massive user base.

Red Hat believe their engineering of RHEL for their own version of Open Stack is the best approach for customers - so historically have not supported Mirantis running on top of their Linux distribution. Red Hat also believe they are best placed to provide L3 type support on their own distribution - so this Mirantis / SUSE offering will no doubt increase the rivalry and competition between both Red Hat and SUSE.

Here at Securelinx we are both Red Hat Premier Partners and SUSE Platinum Partners with significant skills, certification and experience on both vendors solution portfolios. This allows us to be independent and offer the best solution on a case by case basis. This latest cooperative move by SUSE & Mirantis is interesting for customers - on the surface it broadens choice in the market which is good, but it will also be interesting to see how SUSE performs delivering L3 Red Hat support for Mirantis and how that situation develops.

If you would like more information on how Securelinx can help your company with Red Hat or SUSE solutions, please visit: http://securelinx.com/partners/

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Containers and Dockers: Part 1

This blog is a part one of our in-depth analysis of containers. This first post will look at what containers are, explaining how they got their name and what their purpose is.

Over the last number of years Virtualisation technologies such as VMware have become firmly established within the IT landscape. Such approaches allow multiple operating systems and their applications to co-exist on the same hardware thus fully leveraging the underlying hardware’s performance potential. Containers are a different from of  virtualisation, basically they take advantage of operating system kernel features to allow multiple isolated user space instances. Such “contained” instances are perfect environments for running small lightweight applications with all the runtime, systems tools and libraries needed to support each container in an independent manner. Containers as an operating system level of virtualisation have existed for many years within Unix environments, but it has been the advent of Docker (a way to readily create and engage with containers) that has provided the real impetus to its adoption over the last 1-2 years.

Docker is an open-source project that automates the way applications get deployed within containers. Docker’s ability to wrap up an application with all the necessary resources it needs to run means that once created as a Docker image it is a highly portable and can be run on any Linux system. From a user perspective each Docker based container looks and acts as an independent server allowing massive flexibility for how and where applications are deployed in support of business needs. Linux containers give each of the applications running on a server its own isolated environment, but all share the server’s operating system. Given that containers don’t have to load up an operating system, you can create containers in a split-second. This speed can be vital for a business if they have an unexpected spike in activity.

This ease of deployment and flexibility is creating a whole new dynamic within the IT industry, including areas such as the re-design of monolithic applications into smaller discrete expandable microservices, the DevOps movement and the acceleration of Cloud deployments.

The benefits of Containers & Docker (ie flexibility, agilty & scale) do not come without associated challenges, such as security concerns, lifecycle management requirements and deployment frameworks. Over the next couple of articles we will look at the advantages of Docker - how and where it is being used today and also how companies with a strong Linux pedigree (such as Securelinx) are working to ensure that Container usage is approached in an enterprise manner.

Next week we will look at containers in more depth examining how successful global companies use them in their IT infrastructure and we will look at some of the emerging trends in containers. In the mean-time if you would like to find out more then please get in touch at info@securelinx.com .

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SQL Server on Linux

Securelinx is a highly skilled Linux Partner with experience of traditional infrastructure and cloud offerings. We work with services such as OpenStack and Amazon EC2, and have recently expanded to the Microsoft Azure framework, assisting customers to transition suitable Linux workloads to the Microsoft Cloud. As Microsoft brings SQL Server 16 to Linux, we are looking forward to engaging with customers who see this offering as beneficial.

This new offering is expected to be Microsoft’s biggest in terms of sales being brought to Linux. Following the Azure deal, this confirms that Microsoft is looking to completely alter its relationship with Linux and other open-source communities. Until recently nearly one quarter of all servers running in Microsoft’s Azure were powered by Linux, but you couldn’t run much Microsoft software on these Linux servers. This will all change with the SQL Server on Linux offering arriving in 2017.

SQL Server 16 will have the ability to seamlessly span on premise and cloud on a single database. There will also be an added emphasis on security, with all data being encrypted from the user onwards. The aim is to provide more than just a new database, but an entire new platform for data management, analytics and intelligent applications. Microsoft are targeting to release the core relational database capabilities at some stage in 2017.

This deal may act as a motivator for those who in the past found SQL Server’s Microsoft-only stance a hindrance. This could end up being a significant step for businesses who run Linux, but who would never have had Microsoft on their list of vendors. Adding this Linux database will also help Microsoft to operate on the most complicated and powerful systems, allowing them to target customers who already use more than one operating system. The appeal for some companies is that they might be willing to pay for Microsoft SQL Server Licenses if they could run it on Linux, therefore avoiding the trap of having to pay for both a Windows Server License and also a SQL Server License.

How Securelinx Can Help?

Securelinx is a highly skilled Linux Partner with experience of traditional infrastructure and cloud offerings. We work with services such as OpenStack and Amazon EC2, and have recently expanded to the Microsoft Azure framework, assisting customers to transition suitable Linux workloads to the Microsoft Cloud. As Microsoft brings SQL Server 16 to Linux, we are looking forward to engaging with customers who see this offering as beneficial.

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S3R - Security Systems and Security Reporting

Today, as the market share of enterprise-level open source platforms expands, with more organisations having a greater number of systems running Linux, the level of high-profile vulnerabilities continues to grow. The resulting need to track these across an infrastructure becomes greater and more urgent.

At the beginning of 2016, BMC in accordance with Forbes published a report that surveyed more than 300 C-level executives. The report found that the leading cause of exposure to data breaches and cyber threats are known vulnerabilities. It found that 44% of the security breaches occur even when the vulnerabilities and their patches have been previously identified. The issue for IT departments is that they are taking too long to fix the vulnerabilities, once the patch has become available.

The motives for the attackers can be varied. They may be looking for sensitive data, or just simply to disrupt your everyday business. However, although the motives may vary, the speed at which they operate is consistently quick. While it can take a short time for attackers to compromise a system, it may take companies months to realise it has become a victim.

So essentially what is occurring is that the deployed applications, operating systems, and components are becoming subject to new vulnerabilities as they age, but organisations are not always in a position to address these occurring vulnerabilities. As mentioned earlier, speed in upgrading is essential to your business. However, because open source models typically have a “pull” support model, which requires users to monitor potential upgrades and vulnerabilities, businesses may remain exploitable for months.

The biggest areas of risk for an enterprise are outdated and poorly synchronized internal procedures that thwart efforts to quickly defend against known threats.The costs of a breach can far outweigh the effort and resources required to keep your business secure. Therefore Securelinx has developed Systems and Security Reporting, or S3R. This is a project developed by us to address this requirement and focuses on providing three functions which will help eliminate vulnerabilities:

1. System Patch Analysis:

S3R integrates with Nagios to provide the ability to centralise patch analysis in one standard tool, reducing the time it takes for us to be informed of important security updates.

2. Real-TIme Alerting For High Profile Issues:

Our integration with Nagios provides the ability to receive real-time alerts for issues which are critical to system security.

3. Regular Reporting:

Reports can be generated on a regular basis in order to give a more detailed breakdown of system vulnerabilities affecting servers.

If you would like to hear more about S3R, or any of our other security offerings, please get in touch with one of our experienced team members. More information can be found on our S3R Website page: http://securelinx.com/solutions/s3r/

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SAP HANA Running on SUSE

Today, one of the largest concerns for enterprise businesses is the volume of data that they are having to contend with. Companies need to be able to capture huge sways of data and then have the infrastructure in place to have the capability to store and analyse all that data and make it meaningful and relevant for the company. Finally the data should be attainable from multiple databases rapidly and easily. The overall aim for a company being to turn these massive amounts of data into business value.

SAP customers are addressing these challenges via the use of SAP HANA. This is an in-memory database which provides faster results than traditional relational databases. Only available to run on Linux - it is known for performing real-time analytics, and the deployment of real-time applications. The goal of SAP HANA is to give its customers a much faster, more flexible way to analyse large volumes of data in real-time.

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) has a long history working with SAP, with dedicated SLES subscriptions available that include SAP specific packages and optimisations - as well as a unified support offering. Given this shared engineering history it was logical that SUSE became the first Linux distribution to support SAP HANA. By combining SUSE Linux Enterprise server (SLES) and SAP HANA, companies now have an easily available and cost effective method of tackling their data analysis issues. For some customers embracing SAP HANA will be their first exposure to Linux as they look to leverage its features and drive new business value.

How Securelinx can Help:

Securelinx has been a SUSE Platinum Partner since 2004 and comprises the largest selection of SUSE Certified Linux Engineers in Ireland. SUSE Linux places a strong emphasis on coexistence and interoperability in the Data Centre and as such, Securelinx has delivered numerous projects in support of this goal. Securelinx also offers a number of specific SAP support offerings for those customers moving to SAP HANA and embracing Linux for the first time. We also offer SUSE Linux Health Checks and support services to those customers that have been running SAP on SUSE Linux for many years. Our expert knowledge of SUSE Linux ensures that customers can confidently embrace new offerings such as SAP HANA today - and build their Linux skills with confidence.

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Red Hat and Azure: What This Unexpected Deal Means For You and How We Can Help

As a highly skilled Red Hat Premier Partner with experience of cloud services such as OpenStack and Amazon EC2, Securelinx is now bringing our years of Red Hat expertise to the Azure framework, helping customers to transition suitable workloads to the Microsoft Cloud. We believe our knowledge of OpenStack, Amazon EC2 and now Azure, ensures that our customers can engage effectively with their preferred Cloud platform by shortening deployment times while delivering beneficial outcomes.  

One of the biggest news stories for Linux late last year was the announcement that Microsoft will now partner with Red Hat so that customers will have the ability to run Red Hat Enterprise Linux in Microsoft’s Azure public cloud. This deal would have seemed very unlikely just a couple of years ago as the world’s largest proprietary and open source companies have typically been bitter rivals, but the idea here is to try and offer the best of both worlds with Red Hat hosting .NET applications and Microsoft bolstering Linux.

The deal makes sense because most Red Hat customers are also a Microsoft customer so the potential to co-operate in a customer’s best interests is strong. This post will help you understand what the deal means, why it is important and also how Securelinx can help should you wish to take advantage of this new capability.

There are four main parts to the overall Red Hat / Azure deal. The first is that Microsoft Azure will be certified by Red Hat for Enterprise Linux deployments. On top of this there will also be a pay-as-you go Red Hat Linux images available.

Secondly, customers will be offered cross-platform and cross-company support. This means that no matter whether you run Red Hat or Azure, you are still offered the same consistent support.

Thirdly, Red Hat's virtual machine and cloud management system, called CloudForms will add support for Azure deployments. Also the integration with Microsoft's System Center allows administrators to manage Red Hat Linux on Hyper-V and Azure.

The final consequence of the deal is that developers will have access to .NET technologies across Red Hat offerings. This will includes Red Hat OpenShift and Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Red Hat will become the primary development and reference operating system for .NET Core on Linux.

All of this matters because customers demand flexibility in their cloud investments across a range of platform tools and languages. The fact that Microsoft is now joining up with the leader in enterprise Linux solutions means that more businesses will be able to move to cloud infrastructure on their own terms. This new deal further removes the restriction of having to go with one operating system's cloud infrastructure over another.

What is Securelinx offering in this new era of interoperability?

As a highly skilled Red Hat Premier Partner with experience of cloud services such as OpenStack and Amazon EC2, Securelinx is now bringing our years of Red Hat expertise to the Azure framework, helping customers to transition suitable workloads to the Microsoft Cloud. We believe our knowledge of OpenStack, Amazon EC2 and now Azure, ensures that our customers can engage effectively with their preferred Cloud platform by shortening deployment times while delivering beneficial outcomes.