Red Hat to acquire CoreOS for $250 million
Red Hat announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire container management startup CoreOS for $250 million.
CoreOS was founded in 2013, concentrating on containerized software. The startup is recognized as a leader in the Kubernetes community. Its flagship product, Container Linux, serves as an open-source, lightweight operating system based on the Linux kernel. The company is also known as the creator of Tectonic, a cloud-management platform built on Kubernetes. Both products will be added to Red Hat’s portfolio as part of the acquisition.
Red Hat already has a broad Kubernetes and container-based portfolio. Nevertheless, the company believes bringing CoreOS’s capabilities on board will help “accelerate adoption and development of the industry’s leading hybrid cloud platform for modern application workloads.”
“Red Hat and CoreOS’s relationship began many years ago as open source collaborators developing some of the key innovations in containers and distributed systems, helping to make automated operations a reality,” said Alex Polvi, CEO at CoreOS. “This announcement marks a new stage in our shared aim to make these important technologies ubiquitous in business and the world.”
CoreOS’s product portfolio includes the container registry Quay as well, which the company acquired in 2014. The startup also launched CoreOS Enterprise Registry based on Quay.io. Enterprise Registry at the time, with an eye toward businesses seeking to run their own docker registry.
“The next era of technology is being driven by container-based applications that span multi- and hybrid cloud environments, including physical, virtual, private cloud and public cloud platforms,” said Paul Cormier, president, products and technologies at Red Hat.
“Kubernetes, containers and Linux are at the heart of this transformation, and, like Red Hat, CoreOS has been a leader in both the upstream open source communities that are fueling these innovations and its work to bring enterprise-grade Kubernetes to customers. We believe this acquisition cements Red Hat as a cornerstone of hybrid cloud and modern app deployments.”
Red Hat noted the acquisition is not anticipated to impact the company’s guidance for its fourth fiscal quarter or fiscal year ending Feb. 28, 2018.
