In an industry where collaboration and strategic alliances play a crucial role in driving technological advancements, Microsoft Corp. and Red Hat Inc. have emerged as key partners, solidifying their relationship over the past decade.

Jeremy Winter (pictured), corporate vice president of Azure cloud-native and hybrid at Microsoft, recently discussed the significance of this partnership during Red Hat Summit in Boston.

“What the main topic we were trying to really land for everyone is just this relationship that we have between Microsoft and Red Hat,” Winter said. “It’s just a longstanding relationship that we’ve had over the course of the last eight to 10 years, but it’s a continuing to grow in importance to us on both sides of the fence. What’s really interesting on that is this notion of the shared customer … Microsoft customers are Red Hat customers and vice versa — and ensuring that the success of those two relationships is important to us for our customers ultimately.”

Winter spoke with theCUBE industry analyst John Furrier and Rob Strechay at Red Hat Summit, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed the dynamic landscape of cloud computing and the pivotal role played by Microsoft and Red Hat in driving innovation. (* Disclosure below.)

A strong and evolving partnership

The long-standing relationship between Microsoft and Red Hat has grown in significance over the past decade. The companies’ shared customer base helps with each company’s evolution.

“Microsoft customers are Red Hat customers and vice versa,” Winter stated, “And ensuring the success of those two relationships is important to us, for our customers ultimately.”

The role of developers in driving the industry forward and the significance of cloud-native services and open-source technologies are also pushing the partnership forward. Developers are the driving force behind the adoption of technologies like Kubernetes, containers and cloud-native services. There is a strategic bet on the cloud and the increasing importance of open-source technologies, particularly in the context of enterprise customers, according to Winter.

“The enterprise customer looks to Red Hat and Microsoft as … the most important vendors that they’re betting with for their strategic compute fabric of the future, whether it’s on-prem or in the cloud,” he said.

The transformation of Microsoft’s stance on open-source technologies over the years, including the shared commitment between Microsoft and Red Hat, surprises many joint customers. The strong connection between the two companies and the collaboration they have achieved through joint engineering efforts, such as the integration of Ansible and OpenShift, are a prime example, according to Winder.

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

(* Disclosure: Microsoft Corp. sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither Microsoft nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE