OREANDA-NEWS. Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE: RHT), the world's leading provider of open source solutions, today announced that CROC, leading Russian IT infrastructure creation and systems integration company, has become a Red Hat Certified Cloud Provider. CROC is the first partner in Russia to achieve this status under the Red Hat Certified Cloud Provider program which enables certified companies to become trusted cloud and hosting providers that their customers rely on. Participation in this program enables CROC to provide enterprise quality cloud services using Red Hat software.

CROC has been working in collaboration with Red Hat for nearly ten years. The companies have collaborated on a number of joint projects during this period, both for end-customers and also CROC - to launch its own new services. For example, CROC's cloud platform, a Virtual Data Center which currently provides services to 50 major organizations, runs on Red Hat technology. In addition, CROC will resell Red Hat Enterprise Linux to their customers.

CROC's graduation to Certified Cloud Provider status is in recognition of its Virtual Data Center, a cloud infrastructure solution, as well as its compliance with Red Hat public cloud requirements. The Virtual Data Center, a public cloud infrastructure is used by enterprises that are migrating from single virtual server to complex multi-datacenter infrastructures with high availability and security.

“With the emergence of cloud computing as a major requirement for enterprises across Russia and Eastern Europe, we are happy that CROC is keen to work with innovative vendors such as Red Hat to provide customers with scalable, reliable and cost effective technology solutions,” says Sergei Duzhii, Red Hat partner manager in Russia and CIS.

"Red Hat's open source solutions and commitment to open standards, coupled with enterprise-class support stood out for us as a service provider. Thanks to Red Hat's open source solutions, it is now easier to integrate systems, make changes, and migrate applications into the cloud,“ says Ruslan Zaedinov, deputy director general, head of data centers and cloud computing, CROC. “As a result, we can provide more high-quality service to our customers. Our new Red Hat Certified Cloud Provider designation certifies our competence and helps to ensure that we are well positioned to continue our successful collaboration with Red Hat.“

“CROC offers customized solutions for various industries. We're delighted that CROC has become the first Red Hat Certified Cloud Provider in Russia. CROC implements at least several thousand projects each year and is a solution provider for 47 of Russia's top 100 businesses. Certification will enable CROC to better and more efficiently serve those and future customers,” said Sergey Bugrin, business development director, Russia and CIS, Red Hat. “We believe as a next step CROC will expand its IT portfolio to cover other areas of Red Hat's open hybrid cloud portfolio.”

Certified Cloud Provider designation is awarded to Red Hat partners following rigorous validation by Red Hat. Each provider must meet testing and certification requirements to demonstrate that they can deliver a safe, scalable, supported and consistent environment for enterprise cloud deployments. The Red Hat Certified Cloud Provider program provides customers, ISVs, and partners with the confidence that Red Hat product experts have validated the solution so that implementations begin with a solid foundation.

Red Hat Certified Cloud Providers offer Red Hat products on their clouds, as well as use Red Hat technologies to build and manage secure clouds. With resources from these and other Red Hat Certified Clouds, enterprises are able to do real work in the cloud today. Users of Red Hat solutions cross multiple industries, including manufacturing, financial services, consumer services, healthcare, media and entertainment and public sector organizations.