I first met Stefanie Chiras, Senior Vice President, Partner Ecosystem Success, Red Hat, in November 2021. During our conversation, she revealed her ambitious vision: to cultivate an empowering ecosystem that would propel Red Hat's growth and serve as a benchmark for the entire industry. She emphasized her commitment to a sustained, long-term journey. Over the ensuing four years, I witnessed her and her entire partner team's unwavering dedication to this mission, driving both incremental and generational changes that solidified the ecosystem's importance. Fast forward to today, April 2025, her endeavor has materialized; the concept of an ecosystem has become fundamental to Red Hat's strategic direction, and a significant number of leading IT vendors have integrated themselves into this network.

In today's dynamic IT landscape, the notion of a singular vendor providing all solutions has become anachronistic. The complexity of enterprise needs, the rapid pace of technological evolution, and the imperative for agility necessitate a collaborative approach —a vibrant ecosystem where innovation is a shared endeavor. Red Hat, an enterprise software company with an open source development model, has long understood this fundamental truth, and its evolved ecosystem strategy for 2025 underscores its commitment to fostering a robust network of partners that collectively drive customer success in the hybrid cloud and AI-driven future.

Far from being a mere add-on, Red Hat's ecosystem vision is deeply interwoven with its core strategy, serving as a critical engine for growth, adoption, and expansion. It's a testament to the company's open, inclusive, and collaborative culture, where the best ideas are recognized as emanating from within Red Hat and its vibrant communities, customers, and, uniquely, its partners. This foundational belief permeates every facet of Red Hat's ecosystem strategy, setting it apart from vendors who may view partnerships as transactional rather than transformational.

The Strategic Pillars of Red Hat's 2025 Vision: An Ecosystem-Centric Approach

Red Hat's overarching strategy for 2025 rests on three core pillars, each inextricably linked to the power of its ecosystem:

• Trusted, Comprehensive, and Consistent Portfolio: At its core, Red Hat offers a robust portfolio tailored for critical areas, such as Generative AI. This includes foundational platforms such as Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), Red Hat OpenShift, and Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform. However, Red Hat recognizes that the true value of this portfolio is unlocked through its ecosystem. Partners play a vital role in extending the reach and tailoring the application of these technologies across diverse customer environments and use cases. Whether it's an Independent Software Vendor (ISV) certifying its application on OpenShift, a Global System Integrator (GSI) architecting a complex hybrid cloud solution that leverages Ansible, or a hardware vendor optimizing its infrastructure for RHEL, the ecosystem amplifies the portfolio's capabilities and impact.
• Drive Success, Adoption & Expansion with Customers: Red Hat's commitment to customer success is paramount. The ecosystem acts as a crucial force multiplier in achieving this goal. Partners bring specialized expertise, industry knowledge, and a deep understanding of customer-specific needs. They provide the services, support, and tailored solutions that enable customers to fully leverage Red Hat's technologies and achieve their business objectives. This co-creation and collaborative customer engagement ensures that solutions are not just technologically sound but also directly address the pivotal market transformations and customer pain points identified by Red Hat.
• Accelerate Hybrid Cloud Platforms Across All Customer Footprints: Red Hat firmly believes that the future of hybrid cloud is more hybrid! Its strategy is centered on delivering a simplified hybrid cloud experience. The ecosystem is indispensable in realizing this vision. Partners facilitate the adoption of Red Hat's hybrid cloud platforms across diverse environments, from on-premises data centers to public clouds and the edge. They provide migration tools, integration services, and management solutions that enable customers to operate and innovate seamlessly across these disparate landscapes. The focus on distribution partners further enhances the reach and accessibility of Red Hat's hybrid cloud offerings.

Key Priorities for 2025: Ecosystem Co-creation at the Forefront

Building upon these strategic pillars, Red Hat's key priorities for 2025 explicitly highlight the centrality of its ecosystem:

• Accelerate hybrid cloud platforms across all customer footprints: As mentioned, partners play a crucial role in driving the adoption and seamless operation of Red Hat's hybrid cloud technologies.
• Enable customer AI innovation: Recognizing that the cloud is hybrid. So is AI. Red Hat is heavily investing in enabling customer AI innovation. This is not a solo endeavor. The ecosystem, comprising hardware vendors providing optimized infrastructure, ISVs offering AI/ML lifecycle tools, and delivery partners with the expertise to implement and manage AI solutions, is fundamental to realizing this priority.
• Growth through simplified hybrid cloud: This priority is directly tied to catalyzing the ecosystem with co-creation and collaborative customer engagement. By simplifying the hybrid cloud experience and empowering partners to deliver outstanding customer value, Red Hat aims to drive significant growth together.

Technology Decision Points (TDPs): Framing the Conversation with the Customer

A key element of Red Hat's ecosystem strategy is the adoption of Technology Decision Points (TDPs). These represent the critical architectural choices customers make that have cascading effects across their IT environment. By aligning its go-to-market strategy around these TDPs – such as Server/Cloud Operating System, Virtualization, Container Management, Application Platform, Automation, and AI Platform – Red Hat shifts the focus from product-centric pitches to addressing fundamental customer needs and challenges.

This TDP-centric approach is inherently ecosystem-friendly. No single TDP can be solved by Red Hat technology alone. For instance, a customer's virtualization strategy (a key TDP) necessitates considering storage, networking, backup and disaster recovery (DR), and cloud integration. Red Hat's OpenShift Virtualization offering, built on RHEL, Kubernetes, and KVM, relies heavily on a robust ecosystem of certified partners in these adjacent technology areas, such as storage vendors like HPE and Dell, and data protection providers like Cohesity and Rubrik. By framing discussions around TDPs, Red Hat naturally brings in the relevant ecosystem partners, showcasing a comprehensive solution rather than just a piece of the puzzle. This resonates deeply with partners, enabling them to understand where their offerings fit within the broader customer landscape and how they can collaborate to deliver greater value.

Seeding the AI Market: A Collaborative Approach to Proof of Concepts

Recognizing the transformative potential of AI and the complexities of its adoption, Red Hat is taking a deliberate approach to seeding the market in 2025. A key objective is to conduct 1,000 Generative AI Customer Proof of Concepts (POCs) on OpenShift AI/RHEL AI, with a target of 200 being identified by partners.

This ambitious goal underscores Red Hat's understanding that AI adoption is not just about technology but also about demonstrating tangible value and building customer confidence. By actively engaging its ecosystem in identifying and delivering these POCs, Red Hat aims to achieve several key outcomes:

• Successful proof of value of Gen AI use cases: Demonstrating how Red Hat's AI platforms can address specific customer challenges, such as the large global telecommunications company analyzing customer call transcripts for improved automation and customer satisfaction, achieving significant quality improvements and cost reductions through InstructLab.
• Customer data-driven solutions: Ensuring that AI implementations are tailored to each customer's unique data and needs.
• Generating ecosystem opportunities: Creating downstream opportunities for hardware sales, Red Hat software sales, and partner services as successful POCs move into production.
• Partner enablement: Providing hands-on experience and building partner capabilities in delivering AI solutions on Red Hat platforms. By working side by side on these POCs, partners gain the necessary skills and confidence to drive future AI engagements independently.

Red Hat intends to align its AI strategy with key partners across the ecosystem. Collaboration with hardware vendors like Dell and Lenovo ensures optimized infrastructure for AI workloads. Engaging with ISVs specializing in data processing, data governance, and AI Ops creates a comprehensive AI/ML lifecycle ecosystem. Red Hat also maintains a strong ecosystem partnership with Pure Storage, particularly through integrating Portworx, to support diverse customer infrastructure needs in the AI landscape. Furthermore, Red Hat is focused on identifying and supporting specific use cases, mirroring the approach taken by successful AI players, such as Cisco. This targeted approach, combined with Red Hat's comprehensive AI portfolio, encompassing RHEL AI, OpenShift AI, and AI workload support (including vLLM for optimized inference), provides a solid foundation for collaborative AI innovation.

The Partner Engagement Experience: Building a Foundation for Mutual Success

Underpinning the entire ecosystem strategy is a strong focus on the Partner Engagement Experience. Red Hat is committed to refining this experience to ensure it is customer-centric, simple, profitable, and predictable. This commitment translates into several key initiatives:

• One Global Modular Program: Offering partners a flexible framework that allows them to choose their engagement path based on their business model and areas of expertise.
• Tier & Incentives: Rewarding partner activities and contributions through a points-based system that leads to tiered benefits and incentives. Red Hat is actively working on optimizing its incentive structure, considering a mix of rebates, front-end discounts, and programmatic development funds to motivate best and reward partners.
• Activities & Points: Defining clear partnership actions that earn points, fostering engagement, and driving desired behaviors.
• Global Recognition & Aggregation: Offering a transparent system that enables partners to track their points and progress toward higher tiers and enhanced benefits.
• Focus on Partner Autonomy: Equipping partners with self-service tools, comprehensive enablement and training programs (such as the ETX Delivery Enablement workshops for virtualization migration), and access to innovation and roadmap insights, empowers them to independently drive customer success and scale their business profitably.
• Co-creation and Go-to-Market Alignment: Intentionally fostering collaboration with partners to build joint offerings and align go-to-market motions, ensuring that solutions are relevant and effectively reach customers.
• Virtualization Specialization: Recognizing the significant market opportunity in virtualization displacement, Red Hat is focused on ramping up virtualization-specialized partners through enablement and the PPA Virt Specialization, ensuring they have the necessary skills and experience to guide customers through VMware to OpenShift Virtualization migrations.

Red Hat's journey in refining its partner engagement experience has been one of continuous improvement. Having laid the foundational principles and optimized core capabilities, the focus for 2025 is on strengthening, scaling, and accelerating the program. This includes enhancing the digital experience, providing greater visibility into the pipeline, and streamlining the onboarding process for partners.

Differentiation: A Culture of Open Collaboration

What truly differentiates Red Hat's ecosystem vision is its deep-rooted commitment to open source principles and a culture of collaboration. Unlike vendors who may view their ecosystem as a means to an end – simply extending their sales reach – Red Hat genuinely embraces its partners as co-innovators and integral to its success. This manifests in several key ways:

• Transparency and Openness: Red Hat's open source heritage fosters a culture of transparency, extending to its partner program. Partners clearly understand the program structure, incentives, and growth opportunities.
• Shared Success: Red Hat's ecosystem strategy is built on the principle of shared success. The company recognizes that its growth is intrinsically linked to the success of its partners.
• Empowerment and Autonomy: Red Hat aims to empower its partners by providing them with the tools, resources, and knowledge necessary to operate autonomously and build profitable businesses around Red Hat technologies.
• Genuine Collaboration: The emphasis on co-creation and collaborative customer engagement goes beyond marketing rhetoric. Red Hat works with partners to develop joint solutions and deliver customer value.
• Focus on Skills and Value: Red Hat prioritizes partners based on their skills, the value they bring to customers, and the outcomes they deliver, fostering a meritocratic ecosystem.

In contrast, other IT vendors may have more transactional partner programs, emphasizing sales targets and less on deep collaboration and shared innovation. Their ecosystems might be more tightly controlled, limiting partner autonomy and flexibility. Red Hat's open and collaborative approach fosters a more vibrant and resilient ecosystem, attracting a diverse range of partners who are genuinely invested in the platform's success and committed to delivering exceptional customer outcomes.

Final Techaisle Take: A Powerful Force for Innovation and Growth

Red Hat's ecosystem vision for 2025 and beyond is not just a partner program; it's a strategic imperative. It's a recognition that collective intelligence and collaborative innovation are essential for driving customer success and achieving sustainable growth in the complex and rapidly evolving world of hybrid cloud and AI. By focusing on Technology Decision Points, actively engaging partners in seeding the AI market, and continuously refining the partner engagement experience based on customer-centricity, profitability, and predictability, Red Hat is building a powerful force that amplifies the impact of its open-source technologies.

Deeply ingrained in Red Hat's DNA, the emphasis on a collaborative culture truly differentiates its ecosystem strategy. By empowering partners, fostering co-creation, and prioritizing shared success, Red Hat is not only building a network of resellers and service providers; it is cultivating a dynamic community of innovators who collectively shape the future of enterprise IT. This commitment to its ecosystem is not just a matter of strategy; it's a fundamental aspect of Red Hat's identity and a key driver of its continued leadership in the open hybrid cloud era. As Red Hat continues on its journey of strengthening, scaling, and accelerating its ecosystem, the opportunities for partners and customers alike will only continue to expand, solidifying Red Hat's position as a genuinely ecosystem-centric technology leader.