Red Hat and Google Solidify Compute Engine Agreement

At the end of March, Red Hat announced a new collaboration with Google that will enable Red Hat customers to move eligible Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscriptions to Google Compute Engine using Red Hat Cloud Access. The news came after Google announced the public availability of the Google Compute Engine platform earlier this year, which places the company in direct competition with Amazon Web Services (AWS), and represents a strong step into the Infrastructure-as-a-Service space. Now, Red Hat is making the arrangement official, and it has broad implications for both companies.

According to the announcement:

"Through Red Hat Cloud Access, Red Hat customers can take advantage of the benefits of the Google Cloud Platform with the confidence that the consistency and quality of on-premise Red Hat technologies are the same on a public cloud. Red Hat Cloud Access also enables customers to maintain a direct relationship with Red Hat – including the ability to receive full support from Red Hat’s award-winning Global Support Services organization – on Google Compute Engine, enabling customers to maintain a consistent level of service and support across all certified deployment infrastructures with consistent and predictable pricing."

Among other things, Red Hat's partnership with Google is a big endorsement for Google's plans in the cloud, and it also is a good example of the growing trend of building cloud services around Linux. 

Chris Rimer, global head of partner business for Google Cloud Platform said in a statement: "Today's enterprise users demand performance, scale, flexibility, and security in order to run their applications. Now with Cloud Access, customers have the flexibility of bringing their existing Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscriptions to Google's infrastructure. By working with Red Hat, we are able to offer customers a powerful and consistent open source experience with Google Cloud Platform and Compute Engine."