The name Red Hat Inc. is almost entirely synonymous with open-source software, many of which have cloud leanings.

Platform companies like it are now tasked with managing emerging multi-point partnerships with independent software vendors, cloud vendors and distributors.

“At Red Hat, our view of being a platform company is to be able to span that and bring all of those folks together,” said Stefanie Chiras (pictured), senior vice president of partner ecosystem success at Red Hat. “So I see this transition going from a world of partnerships into a world of a networked ecosystem. And the real benefit is when you can pull together one ecosystem with another ecosystem, build that up, and it really becomes an ecosystem of ecosystems.”

Chiras spoke with theCUBE industry analysts Dave Vellante and Paul Gillin during the Red Hat Summit event, an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed Red Hat’s partner ecosystem, community-driven technologies and open hybrid cloud promise. (* Disclosure below.)

Open hybrid cloud at the horizon

As the importance of hybrid cloud has become apparent during the pandemic, Red Hat envisions a future where the open intermingling of highly skilled partners within a divested ecosystem will unlock its broader possibilities — an open hybrid cloud future.

“We don’t think we can do it all,” Chiras said. “We’re a platform company. I think the places where we’re really doubling down on is simplicity. So the Ansible announcement that we did brings in certified collections of ecosystem partners on that deployment. We do the work with Azure in order to do that deployment of the Ansible Automation Platform, and then it comes with a set of certified collections that have been done with other partners.”

Another area Red Hat is working on is simplifying all of the underground work being done and distilling that information to consumers.

“We’ve stepped in to try and do digital engagement for certification and deployment, and the creation of operators on OpenShift is one way that technology from partners can be done and enabled more easily and quickly with Red Hat platforms,” Chiras stated.

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Red Hat Summit event:

(* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for Red Hat Summit. Neither Red Hat Inc., the sponsor for theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE