CIQ partner in Europe
Rocky Linux support
We are a partner of CIQ, the company behind Rocky Linux, including its artificial intelligence products. We help you choose the edition each server needs, migrate you from CentOS or RHEL and support it with the same team that already runs Red Hat and SUSE in production.
Current releases: Rocky Linux 9.8 and 10.2. Rocky 8 gets security patches until May 2029.
in Europe
We are a CIQ partner
CIQ is the company founded by Gregory Kurtzer, who created CentOS and Rocky Linux, and the one that sells commercial support for Rocky. It has no office in Europe, so we are the local side: we set up the subscription, migrate and look after your servers, and when the fault is in the operating system itself we escalate it to CIQ with the case already diagnosed.
Subscriptions
RLC Pro, Hardened, AI, Bridge and the HPC tools, with renewals handled by us.
Artificial intelligence
RLC Pro AI and Fuzzball, running on your own GPUs and inference infrastructure.
Support
24/7 or 8×5 from Europe, with CIQ behind us for operating system bugs.
Hardware
CIQ certifies Rocky on Dell, HPE and Supermicro servers, and we sell Dell and Supermicro with it preinstalled.
More than 2.75 million servers already run Rocky Linux.*
How Rocky Linux has grown
- Rocky Linux
- AlmaLinux
- RHEL
- CentOS Stream
- CentOS Linux
Rocky Linux for AI, on your own GPUs
RLC Pro AI is CIQ's edition for GPU servers. It ships a newer kernel than the RHEL family and comes with the NVIDIA driver, CUDA, DOCA-OFED, PyTorch and Ollama installed and tested together, so nobody has to assemble the stack by hand on every machine. It is licensed per server, not per GPU: adding cards does not raise the subscription.
On top of it runs Fuzzball, which deploys open models such as Llama 4, Gemma 4, Qwen3-Coder or Mistral on your own GPUs, NVIDIA or AMD, with a single command, and spreads the work across your clusters and the cloud when you run short of capacity. We fit it into the on-premise inference platform we build on Ceph, OpenStack and Kubernetes, so your data never leaves your data centre.
- Qwen3.5-0.8BSingle user, 2 requests at once245–249
- Qwen3.5-0.8B16K context, 2 requests at once196–199
- Qwen3.5-0.8BSingle user122–125
- Qwen3.5-2B16K context, 2 requests at once87–97
- Qwen3.5-2BSingle user47
| Kernel | CIQ Linux Kernel, based on Linux 6.18 |
|---|---|
| Included stack | NVIDIA 580 driver, CUDA, DOCA-OFED, PyTorch and Ollama |
| Models | 11 open models validated in Fuzzball 4.3 |
| Licensing | Per server, not per GPU |
FYR Diagnostics, which processes genomic data for precision medicine, got 100 times the throughput with Fuzzball, according to the case study published by CIQ.
Do I need to pay for Rocky Linux?
The free release is enough for many servers. These are the cases where a CIQ subscription makes sense.
RLC Pro or BridgeComing from CentOSCentOS 7 or 8Rocky is the continuation of CentOS: same packages and the same way of administering it. If you cannot migrate yet, Bridge keeps CentOS 7 patched while you plan it.
RLC ProPaying for RHELReview the billRHEL applications run the same on Rocky, and with RLC Pro you keep long patching, FIPS and someone to call. We work out the cost with you based on your real server count.
RLC ProCertified ERPFixed minor releaseIf your ERP or database is only certified on 9.2, that release no longer gets patches in the free version. RLC Pro LTS keeps it patched until December 2027.
HardenedAuditsFIPS, STIG, CISWhen the auditor asks for validated cryptography and proof of hardening, Hardened ships with FIPS 140-3 and the STIG and CIS playbooks ready to apply.
RLC Pro AIGPUsAI and inferenceNVIDIA drivers, CUDA and PyTorch tested together on a newer kernel, licensed per server.
If none of these fit, community Rocky Linux (or RLC+, CIQ's free release with the NVIDIA drivers built in) will do, and we can still help you set it up and maintain it.
The CIQ editions and what each one is for
They all start from the same Rocky Linux, so moving between them does not mean migrating applications. RLC Pro AI is covered above and Bridge, for CentOS 7, further down.
Rocky Linux with enterprise support
Every even minor release (9.2, 9.4, 9.6…) gets patches for up to four years, so you can stay on the one your software vendor certified. It adds FIPS 140-3 validated cryptography (NIST certificates #5095, #5113, #5116, #5117 and #5200), bug fixes, response times for critical vulnerabilities, legal indemnification and ELM, the console to approve updates and roll them back if something fails. With LTS releases, a major version can reach up to 13 years of support.
With us: we help you pick CIQ support, business hours or 24/7, depending on how critical each server is.
Hardened out of the box for regulated sectors
RLC Pro already hardened: runtime kernel protection (LKRG), reinforced critical packages, signed images with their SBOM and DISA STIG, CIS and NIST 800-171 playbooks. Built for defence, public sector and banking.
With us: we test the profiles in pre-production and hand you the reports ready for the auditor.
Clusters and automation
Warewulf Pro deploys clusters of hundreds of nodes from a central image, Apptainer Pro supports HPC containers (formerly Singularity) and Ascender Pro automates with Ansible on top of AWX, with no node minimum.
With us: we deploy them on the Dell and Supermicro servers we sell you, or on the ones you already have.
What each edition includes
All of them keep binary compatibility with RHEL. What changes is what CIQ adds on top.
| Rocky Linux | RLC+ | RLC Pro | Pro Hardened | Pro AI | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free | Subscription | Subscription | Subscription |
| NVIDIA drivers and CUDA built in | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| LTS releases (up to 4 years) | No | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| FIPS 140-3 | No | No | Yes | Yes | No |
| Bug fixes by CIQ | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Legal indemnification | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Support with response times | No | No | Bought separately | Included | Included |
| STIG and CIS hardening, LKRG | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| AI-optimised kernel | No | No | No | No | Yes |
Rocky Linux
- PriceFree
- NVIDIA drivers and CUDA built inNo
- LTS releases (up to 4 years)No
- FIPS 140-3No
- Bug fixes by CIQNo
- Legal indemnificationNo
- Support with response timesNo
- STIG and CIS hardening, LKRGNo
- AI-optimised kernelNo
RLC+
- PriceFree
- NVIDIA drivers and CUDA built inYes
- LTS releases (up to 4 years)No
- FIPS 140-3No
- Bug fixes by CIQNo
- Legal indemnificationNo
- Support with response timesNo
- STIG and CIS hardening, LKRGNo
- AI-optimised kernelNo
RLC Pro
- PriceSubscription
- NVIDIA drivers and CUDA built inYes
- LTS releases (up to 4 years)Yes
- FIPS 140-3Yes
- Bug fixes by CIQYes
- Legal indemnificationYes
- Support with response timesBought separately
- STIG and CIS hardening, LKRGNo
- AI-optimised kernelNo
Pro Hardened
- PriceSubscription
- NVIDIA drivers and CUDA built inYes
- LTS releases (up to 4 years)Yes
- FIPS 140-3Yes
- Bug fixes by CIQYes
- Legal indemnificationYes
- Support with response timesIncluded
- STIG and CIS hardening, LKRGYes
- AI-optimised kernelNo
Pro AI
- PriceSubscription
- NVIDIA drivers and CUDA built inYes
- LTS releases (up to 4 years)No
- FIPS 140-3No
- Bug fixes by CIQYes
- Legal indemnificationYes
- Support with response timesIncluded
- STIG and CIS hardening, LKRGNo
- AI-optimised kernelYes
Data from the CIQ edition comparison as of October 2026. RLC+ lets you open tickets, but without response times.
What Rocky Linux is, and the dates ahead
Rocky Linux was born in 2021, when Red Hat ended CentOS, as a free, binary-compatible rebuild of RHEL: whatever runs on RHEL runs on Rocky untouched. The community release is fine for production, but only the latest minor version gets patches and there is nobody to call when something breaks, which is exactly what CIQ adds. There are no in-place upgrades between major versions (8 to 9, 9 to 10): you reinstall.
- 30 Jun 2024Passed
CentOS 7 stops getting patches
CIQ Bridge covers it until 2028.
- 30 Jun 2026Passed
Amazon Linux 2 reaches end of support
RLC Pro is the migration target CIQ proposes.
- 31 May 2027
CentOS Stream 9 ends
And Rocky 9 moves to security patches only.
- Dec 2027
RLC Pro 9.2 LTS ends
The next long-term release, 9.6, runs until November 2029.
- 31 May 2029
Rocky 8 end of life
With RLC Pro, 8.10 keeps getting patches until May 2032.
- 2032 and 2035
Rocky 9 and Rocky 10 end of life
On 31 May of each year in the community release. With RLC Pro, a major version can reach up to 13 years of support.
How we work
We handle both the commercial and the technical side, so you do not have to coordinate a vendor, an integrator and a support team separately.
- Before buying
Inventory
Which servers you have, on which version of CentOS, RHEL or Rocky, what certified software runs on them and which regulations apply. That tells us the edition each server needs, which does not have to be the same for all of them, and which IBM Power servers are better off staying on RHEL or SUSE.
- Subscription
Only what you need
We quote the CIQ subscriptions per server and year, mixing editions where it makes sense.
- Migration
From CentOS or RHEL to Rocky
We test in pre-production first and start with the least critical servers. More detail in migration to Linux.
- Day to day
Support and patching
24/7 or 8×5 support from the team that built the platform, with CIQ behind us for operating system bugs.
- Your team
Training
Our Linux courses apply as they are to Rocky, because administration and commands are the same as on RHEL.
Still on CentOS 7?
CentOS 7 has had no security patches since 30 June 2024, and every new vulnerability stays open on those servers. With CIQ Bridge we give them extended support until 2028 while we move them to Rocky Linux at a sensible pace.
Fixes for critical and important vulnerabilities · Kernel 3.10 maintained · Until 2028
Frequently asked questions
Is Rocky Linux free?
Yes. You can download it for free from rockylinux.org and run it in production without paying for licences. What you pay for are the CIQ editions, which add longer patching, certifications, bug fixes and support with response times.
What is the difference between Rocky Linux and Red Hat Enterprise Linux?
Rocky is rebuilt from the public RHEL sources and is binary compatible: same packages, same tools and same commands, so an application that runs on RHEL runs on Rocky without changes. The difference is who provides support (Red Hat in one case, CIQ and its partners in the other) and certifications, because some enterprise software vendors only certify their products on RHEL.
Rocky Linux or AlmaLinux?
Both were created to replace CentOS and both are free. Since 2023 Rocky has kept the goal of being identical to RHEL, while AlmaLinux settles for being compatible and sometimes ships fixes on its own schedule. Day to day you will hardly notice; where they do differ is commercial support, which for Rocky comes from CIQ.
Does Rocky Linux run on IBM Power?
Can I move from CentOS to Rocky without reinstalling?
From CentOS 8, yes: migrate2rocky, the project's official tool, converts the system in place. From CentOS 7 there is no direct path, and the usual approach is a clean Rocky install and moving the applications across. That can be done calmly if CIQ Bridge keeps CentOS 7 patched in the meantime.
Why buy through us rather than directly from CIQ?
Because CIQ has no office in Europe and does not migrate or run your servers. With us you get the subscription, the migration and day-to-day support from the same team, in European business hours, with CIQ behind us for bugs in the operating system itself.
Tell us which servers you have
With the list of servers and versions we will tell you which edition each one needs and what it would cost.
* Figure from CIQ, based on EPEL telemetry. According to the same source, 90% of Fortune 100 companies use technology supported by CIQ.
