Red Hat to acquire container security firm StackRox

By January 8, 2021

US open source software giant Red Hat is set to acquire StackRox for an undisclosed amount. The transaction is expected to close in Q1 2021.

Through the acquisition, the company aims to bring StackRox’s Kubernetes-native security capabilities to OpenShift, Red Hat’s container platform. Red Hat provides open source software solutions, including Linux, hybrid cloud, container, and Kubernetes technologies.

Red Hat was co-founded by Canadian entrepreneur Bob Young in 1993.

Red Hat was co-founded by Canadian entrepreneur Bob Young in 1993. In 2018, Red Hat was acquired by IBM for $34 billion USD. Today, it is headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, and employs over 16,000 people.

Container technology allows users to package software and its dependencies as a single unit, enabling it to run smoothly on any infrastructure. Kubernetes is an open source system that allows for the automated deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. According to Red Hat, Kubernetes is “the foundation of cloud-native applications.”

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StackRox claims its software reduces the time and effort required to implement Kubernetes-based security measures. The acquisition of StackRox aligns neatly with Red Hat’s OpenShift. With StackRox, Red Hat plans to strengthen the integrated security of its open hybrid cloud portfolio.

“Red Hat adds StackRox’s Kubernetes-native capabilities to OpenShift’s layered security approach, furthering our mission to bring product-ready open innovation to every organization across the open hybrid cloud across IT footprints,” said Red Hat’s current president and CEO Paul Cormier.

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“We’re thrilled to join forces with Red Hat, coupling the industry’s first Kubernetes-native security platform with the leading Kubernetes platform for hybrid cloud, multi-cloud, and edge deployments,” said StackRox CEO Kamal Shah.

Red Hat plans to make StackRox’s technology open source post-acquisition. StackRox will also continue to support other Kubernetes platforms, including Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS), Microsoft Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), and Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE).

Image courtesy of Red Hat

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