SIXE is a CIQ partner: what changes for Rocky and CentOSWhat it means if you run servers on CentOS, RHEL or Rocky.
As of October 2026 we are a partner of CIQ, the company behind Rocky Linux, and we are very pleased about it.
Rocky had been turning up on our customers' servers for a while, and until now we looked after it on our own. From now on we do it with the backing of the people who build it.
Why CIQ
CIQ was founded by Gregory Kurtzer, co-founder of CentOS. When Red Hat announced the end of CentOS Linux in 2020, Kurtzer launched Rocky Linux so that anyone running CentOS could carry on as before, and today CIQ is its main sponsor.
For many of our customers coming from CentOS, Rocky was the obvious next step. What was missing was a company standing behind it with a subscription and support, and that is what CIQ brings.
What changes for our customers
If you want Rocky with support, you no longer have to deal with a vendor in the United States on one side and with us on the other. We set up the subscription, migrate the servers and handle day-to-day incidents.
It is all explained on our Rocky Linux support page. If you already know where you are starting from, one of these guides may be more useful:
- RLC Pro, if you need to stay on one release for years or need FIPS 140-3 cryptography.
- CentOS 7 extended support, if you still have servers unpatched since 2024.
- RLC Pro Hardened, if you are audited against DISA STIG or CIS.
The artificial intelligence side
The agreement also covers CIQ's AI products, and it is the part we were keenest to announce. For a while now we have been building inference infrastructure on Ceph, OpenStack and Kubernetes for companies that would rather keep their data in their own data centre. Now we can also supply the operating system for those GPU servers, RLC Pro AI, with vendor support.
Rocky joins Ubuntu, Red Hat and SUSE
We are still not tied to any one distribution. We are a Canonical partner for Ubuntu and run Red Hat, SUSE and Debian in production. Rocky with CIQ is one more option, and we will suggest it when it suits what runs on each server.
Frequently asked questions
Since when has SIXE been a CIQ partner?
Since October 2026. Since then we can offer CIQ's subscriptions on top of the migration and support work we already did.
What is CIQ?
The company founded by Gregory Kurtzer, co-founder of CentOS, and the main sponsor of Rocky Linux. It sells the enterprise editions of Rocky: RLC Pro, RLC Pro Hardened, RLC Pro AI and CIQ Bridge for CentOS 7.
If I already work with SIXE on Red Hat or Ubuntu, does anything change?
No. We carry on with Red Hat, SUSE, Ubuntu and Debian as before. We will only bring up Rocky if we think it suits you.
Running CentOS, RHEL or Rocky?
Tell us what servers you have and what runs on each one, and we will tell you which edition fits and what the move would look like.
Rocky Linux, Red Hat, SUSE and Ubuntu support · sixe.euBlog!
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SIXE ensures that your infrastructures based on IBM®, Red Hat®, Canonical®, and SUSE® technologies remain stable, secure, and optimized for as long as you need them.
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