Red Hat & Google Cloud expand OpenShift integration

Red Hat and Google Cloud have expanded their collaboration around Red Hat OpenShift on Google Cloud. The update adds Red Hat OpenShift to the Google Cloud Console and makes Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization generally available on Red Hat OpenShift Dedicated on Google Cloud.

The changes target organisations moving applications into cloud environments while still running older virtual machine-based systems. By bringing OpenShift into Google Cloud's main management interface, the companies aim to reduce the number of steps needed to set up and run workloads.

Users of Red Hat OpenShift Dedicated can now validate Google Cloud prerequisites natively before entering a guided cluster provisioning flow in the Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console. This is intended to simplify onboarding for customers deploying clusters on Google Cloud.

Billing and procurement have also been more closely aligned. Organisations can buy through Google Cloud Marketplace on a pay-as-you-go basis, and Red Hat OpenShift subscription costs count toward Google Cloud committed spend.

The update also includes tighter integration with Google Cloud services, including Secret Manager, Certificate Authority Service, and Workload Identity Federation.

Virtual machines

The expanded collaboration also covers Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization, now generally available on Red Hat OpenShift Dedicated on Google Cloud. The product is designed to let companies run traditional virtual machines alongside containers and serverless workloads on the same Kubernetes-based platform.

This is significant for businesses that still rely on legacy applications but want to move toward cloud-native development models. Rather than leaving virtual machines behind in a single step, they can manage both environments through one interface and a shared operational model.

The offering is available on Google Cloud C3 bare metal instances, which are intended for workloads that need direct access to CPU and memory resources, including applications with performance sensitivity or licensing constraints.

Customers can use migration tools such as the Migration Toolkit for Virtualization and Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform as part of the transition from traditional virtualisation environments. The goal is to limit downtime while moving workloads into a model that can operate across on-premises systems, cloud environments, and edge locations.

Red Hat OpenShift Dedicated on Google Cloud is sold as a managed application platform, with global site reliability engineers and built-in automation intended to reduce the operational burden on customer teams.

Partner focus

The announcement highlights the importance of partnerships between major cloud providers and software vendors as customers look to consolidate infrastructure and avoid running separate tools for virtual machines, containers, and related security services. The latest changes suggest both companies see demand from enterprises that want a more gradual migration path rather than a full rebuild of application estates.

Mike Barrett, Vice President and General Manager, Hybrid Cloud Platforms at Red Hat, said the company's hybrid cloud strategy centres on operational consistency across different environments.

"Red Hat's hybrid cloud vision is built on consistency - the ability to run any workload, anywhere, with the same operational model. This extended collaboration with Google Cloud further empowers organisations with comprehensive cloud-native capabilities of Red Hat OpenShift, whether they need to accelerate application development or streamline migration to the cloud. Together, Red Hat and Google provide a clear, unified path for organisations to modernise their entire application portfolio, helping them manage both their traditional VMs and containerised applications on a single platform," Barrett said.

Google Cloud said customers want simpler ways to manage mixed infrastructure without giving up the performance they expect from cloud deployments.

"Our customers are constantly looking for ways to simplify their infrastructure and accelerate innovation without sacrificing performance. We are pleased to deepen our collaboration with Red Hat for OpenShift on Google Cloud. Customers now have a smoother path, enabling them to run both virtualised and containerised workloads consistently on Google Cloud's global, secure, and performant infrastructure," said Mehta.