Ubuntu Is Now the Preferred Operating System for Pivotal's Cloud Foundry

Pivotal, the developer of the Cloud Foundry open source cloud development platform, is teaming up with Canonical, the company behind the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution. Announced today, the partnership means that Ubuntu is now the preferred operating system for Cloud Foundry.

Cloud Foundry was originally developed by VMware and is now owned by Pivotal Software, a joint venture by EMC, VMware and General Electric. Canonical and Pivotal have worked together over the years, so today’s news formalized the long-standing relationship between the companies.

Easier Upgrades

What does the new partnership mean for users? For one thing, it should more easily enable Ubuntu Linux upgrades and automated security patch management, giving Cloud Foundry users easier and faster access to critical updates, the companies said. The partnership also gives Ubuntu users access to level-3 Ubuntu support, meaning that service tickets filed with Cloud Foundry that are identified as Ubuntu problems get transferred directly to Ubuntu support staff. If an issue isn’t with one side or the other, the two companies will team up to solve it.

The two will also team up on a new security certification framework, allowing both to be involved with the organizations that create the security standards manuals used by Ubuntu to help it build more secure operating systems. Defining and writing those standards will allow Ubuntu to take a more active role in developing the guides, the company said.

“Ubuntu on Pivotal Cloud Foundry brings together the leading Linux OS and Cloud Native Platform for Enterprise scale-out cloud deployments,” said Dustin Kirkland, Ubuntu Product and Strategy at Canonical, in a statement. “Customers will also benefit from all of Canonical’s professional service and support facilities when they choose Ubuntu images on Pivotal Cloud Foundry.”

SUSE, Microsoft Join Up

Customers who want to try Pivotal’s cloud native platform powered by Ubuntu Linux can get started at http://pivotal.io/platform. To download the latest version of Ubuntu, users must access the official Web site of the GNU/Linux operating system.

Since its launch in 2004, Canonical has grown to more than 500 staff members in more than 30 countries, and has offices in London, Boston, Taipei, Montreal, Shanghai, São Paulo and the Isle of Man. The company recently raised round of $10 million via crowdfunding. Pivotal has also done well in raising funds, receiving a total of $1.7 billion, including $650 million Series C round led by Ford Motor Company in May.

The Pivotal and Canonical partnership wasn’t the only significant Linux cloud tie-up to be announced this week. SUSE and Microsoft expanded their partnership, with SUSE joining the Microsoft Enterprise Cloud Alliance and test drive program. That means customers will be able to try out SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for High Performance Computing on Microsoft’s Azure Marketplace for free.

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