CIQ launches C3 compatibility catalogue for Rocky Linux
CIQ has launched C3, a free public compatibility catalogue for Rocky Linux and its enterprise distributions.
The service is designed to give hardware vendors, independent software vendors, AI platform providers, developers and community contributors a single place to verify and publish whether their products work with Rocky Linux, RLC Pro, RLC Pro AI and RLC Pro Hardened.
CIQ, the founding support and services partner of Rocky Linux, says the catalogue addresses a need among vendors and enterprise customers to check compatibility with specific Rocky Linux-based products rather than rely on a broader Enterprise Linux assumption.
Rocky Linux has become one of the more widely used Enterprise Linux distributions, while CIQ's RLC Pro line builds on that base with products aimed at longer-term support, AI workloads and tighter security controls.
Three tiers
C3 has three levels of assurance. Community Compatibility is open to anyone in the Rocky Linux ecosystem at no cost, allowing vendors to self-attest and publish compatibility findings in the public catalogue.
The second level, Vendor Verified, is for software companies, hardware suppliers and AI platform providers that want a more formal validation process. The third, CIQ Certified, is for organisations and vendors seeking formal certification.
CIQ is positioning the resource for both technology vendors and the enterprise teams that buy and deploy their products. In practice, procurement and IT departments can use the catalogue as a reference when assessing operating system support for servers, software packages and AI infrastructure.
That is particularly important in environments where support and validation influence purchasing decisions, especially in sectors running specialist hardware or regulated workloads. For customers deploying security-focused operating systems or systems tuned for AI and high-performance computing, compatibility checks often need to go beyond whether a product runs on a standard Linux base.
CIQ says its enterprise product family serves several distinct use cases, including general Enterprise Linux deployments that require long-term support and legal indemnification, AI and HPC installations that depend on GPU optimisation and throughput, and security-sensitive environments where the operating system's cryptographic posture may be subject to audit.
Across those scenarios, customers and vendors need a clearer way to confirm whether their hardware, software and infrastructure stacks are supported on the relevant platform, according to CIQ.
Arthur Tyde, Senior Vice President of Business Development at CIQ and Board Chair of the Open Enterprise Linux Association, said the catalogue is intended to reduce uncertainty before a system is bought or deployed.
"Before you purchase your hardware, you need to know your operating system supports it," Tyde said. "C3 gives the entire ecosystem a fast, low-friction way to answer that, starting with Community Compatibility at no cost and scaling to CIQ Certified for those who need the highest level of assurance."
Wider stack
The launch adds another component to CIQ's broader Rocky Linux-related software portfolio. Alongside the RLC Pro operating systems, the company sells products for IT automation, cluster provisioning, cloud HPC orchestration and containers used in high-performance computing environments.
By creating a public catalogue tied to Rocky Linux and its own commercial distributions, CIQ is also seeking to position itself closer to infrastructure buying decisions. Compatibility lists have long been a practical tool for enterprise software and hardware vendors, particularly where support terms, certification and audit requirements can affect which platform a customer selects.
The new catalogue is available now.