Red Hat and Microsoft have expanded an alliance which was first announced about two years ago, with plans to help organisations more easily adopt the use of containers.
There will be native support made available for Windows Server containers on Red Hat OpenShift, an enterprise-grade, Kubernetes-based container application platform.
Additionally, Red Hat OpenShift Dedicated will be offered on Microsoft's Azure cloud platform. A third aspect of the expanded relationship will be the availability of SQL Server on Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Red Hat OpenShift.
The use of Windows Server containers on Red Hat OpenShift was demonstrated at the Red Hat summit in May and a technology preview is likely to be available in the western spring of 2018.
{loadposition sam08}The two companies signed a deal on cloud deployment collaboration in November 2015, with Microsoft saying it would offer Red Hat Enterprise Linux as the preferred choice for enterprise Linux workloads on Azure.
Red Hat manages Red Hat OpenShift Dedicated which is a container platform delivered as a cloud service. This service is planned for availability on Azure across 42 regions globally by early next year.
Matthew Hicks, vice-president, Software Engineering, OpenShift and Management, Red Hat, said: “Alongside Microsoft, Red Hat is providing a way for organisations to make technology choices that matter to them, from containerised workloads to public cloud services, without adding complexity.
"Combined with our integrated support teams, we’re able to offer a pathway to digital transformation that offers the capabilities, flexibility and choice required to power the future of enterprise IT.”
John Gossman, the lead Azure architect at Microsoft, said: “Microsoft and Red Hat are aligned in our commitment to bring enterprise customers the hybrid cloud solutions they need to modernise their businesses as they shift to operate in a cloud-native world.
"Today, we’re extending this commitment as we again join forces to bring fully integrated solutions that simplify container adoption and help customers make the most of their hybrid cloud strategies.”