Red Hat Inc. (RHT) has entered into a partnership with the premier networking company, Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO), to expand their virtualization offerings.
Red Hat, a leading provider of open source solutions, and Cisco will work together in integrating Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization software with Cisco’s virtual network link (VN-Link) technology. This is expected to provide superior performance, higher network visibility and control to customers of both companies at a much lower cost.
Red Hat’s Enterprise Virtualization has been well received by large vendors such as Fujitsu, IBM (IBM) and NTT Communications for their cloud deployments. Increased customer wins will result in stronger growth for the company, going forward.
Under the collaboration with Cisco, Cisco’s Unified Computing System, Virtual Interface Card will combine with the Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) hypervisor included in Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization software, thereby creating a logical network of virtual machines.
The combination will allow these virtual machines to access any physical input-output resources. Furthermore, the combination will improve data mobility throughout the network, enhancing performance of different applications.
Application and software deployments will become considerably faster with the use of virtual environment and a large scale use of cloud computing technology under consistent network management will ensure improved security.
The virtual infrastructure supported by both companies’ virtualization management tools will aid customers managing their virtual environment with more ease, under an enhanced security system at 20% to 40% less acquisition cost versus traditional offerings.
Increasing significance of virtualization and cloud computing technologies in the datacenters worldwide using a Linux based servers calls for a simplified solution for virtualized server input-output.
The effective integration is expected to provide an optimum solution for the customers of both Red Hat and Cisco.
We expect Red Hat to benefit from this partnership as it integrates Cisco’s strong networking capabilities with its own open source solutions. The combination is expected to boost its market share in the growing virtualization and cloud computing market.
We also believe that the successful integration of the two technologies will further augment Red Hat’s penetration in global markets.
The integrated solution will be available from Red Hat and Cisco by late 2010, in line with the availability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, including the Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Hypervisor.
Red Hat faces tough competition from Microsoft Corporation (MSFT), Novell Corporation (NOVL) and Oracle Corporation (ORCL).
We have a neutral recommendation on Red Hat.
Read the full analyst report on “RHT”
Read the full analyst report on “MSFT”
Read the full analyst report on “CSCO”
Read the full analyst report on “NOVL”
Read the full analyst report on “ORCL”
Read the full analyst report on “IBM”
Zacks Investment Research
