Red Hat Launches ARM Partner Program
Red Hat continues to scale up its ARM server operation with the recent announcement of a new partner program for hardware vendors who sell 64-bit ARMv8-A systems that support Red Hat software. The program will target a broad range of vendors in the IT server hardware space, including OEMs, chip makers, and independent hardware vendors. Several vendors have already announced support for the program, including AMD, American Megatrends, Applied Micro, ARM, Broadcom, Cavium, Dell, HP, and Linaro.
The ARM chip architecture has been around for years, but ARM technology has recently gained traction in the server space for its energy efficiency. In addition, the ARM licensing model, which allows competing chip vendors to add extensions and modifications around the ARM platform, brings a healthy spirit of innovation to the server space, which has long been dominated by Intel and Intel-like systems.
This innovation also has a downside for a software vendor like Red Hat. Red Hat developers must respond separately to the idiosyncrasies of each system designer. The new ARM Partner Early Access program will encourage cooperation among the ARM vendors to settle on a common standard platform.
According to the press release, partners will receive early-stage pre-release versions of Red Hat development software, documentation, and tools, and Red Hat will have the chance to “… evaluate technical features across various market segments, develop feedback-based targeted use cases, and perform market demand assessments that could influence future product decisions.”
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