My CloudWorld 2024 Experience: Why Rocky Linux is the Future of AI Platforms

My colleagues and I just returned from Oracle CloudWorld 2024, and besides the excellent reunion with former Oracle colleagues and customers, there was a palpable shift in the air. Oracle has always branded itself as complete, integrated, and open, but this year, they truly delivered on the "integrated" promise in a way that would have seemed unlikely years ago.

When I was an early Sparta / OCI product manager, we feared the “Old Oracle.” It turns out the New Oracle is better than any of us could have imagined. This year’s focus was all about multi-cloud, AI, and the future of computing. My team and I hosted with Montis (our amazing partner) at a fun hospitality suite at Milos in The Venetian. The rooms were filled with partners, collaborators, customers, and curious minds (spies) eager to learn more about Rocky Linux and figure out what CIQ’s plans for world domination might be.

Of course, none of this magic would’ve been possible without the incredible ensemble that joined us. The friendships, the laughter, the sharing of ideas—that’s the secret sauce. In the end, isn’t it all about those connections? When you strip away the tech and the buzzwords, what’s left is the shared experience, the stories we tell, and the company we keep. So here’s to you, dear friends of Team CIQ. Your presence was the heartbeat of it all, and for that, we are eternally grateful. The CloudWorld drinks are always on us… although, sometimes, on Larry - thank you, Mr. Ellison.

Please allow me to share some key takeaways, especially for those interested in how we’re aligning with Oracle’s latest strategies.

Multi-cloud, AI, and why Rocky Linux is leading the way

Oracle is putting a huge emphasis on choice, giving businesses the freedom to distribute workloads across multiple platforms like OCI, AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. Their goal is flexibility and performance, ensuring companies aren’t locked into a single cloud provider or semi-proprietary legacy operating systems.

This is where Rocky Linux excels. It's fully multi-cloud ready and runs seamlessly on-prem, making it the ideal OS for hybrid environments. And let’s be real—it’s an open source, cost-effective, high-performance drop-in replacement for IBM/Red Hat.

For enterprises requiring compliance, security, and performance at scale, CIQ offers an unbeatable combination that allows smooth transitions without breaking the bank.

AI is cool, but autonomous federation and orchestration are king

Oracle announced over 50 new AI tools integrated into their Fusion Cloud apps, with autonomous databases that self-patch, self-tune, and simplify life for IT teams. As long-time HPC (High Performance Computing) experts, we see enterprises with decades of experience in research, IP development, and HPC infrastructures are already well-positioned. AI, after all, is fundamentally dependent on this type of compute, giving these companies a significant edge.

Here’s where Fuzzball comes in—our workload management platform is like the teaching machine from that classic Star Trek episode, "Spock's Brain." It turns what might seem like complex "brain surgery" into something so simple, even a child could do it. With Fuzzball, deploying HPC and AI workloads at scale across your entire compute estate becomes child’s play. It simplifies the complex, allowing you to move, manage, and optimize high-performance workloads with ease, whether you're working in the cloud, on-prem, or across hybrid environments. It’s pretty damn cool—seek a demo!

On-prem matters just as much as multi-cloud

While multi-cloud is the buzzword, many customers and partners remind us that Rocky Linux shines just as brightly in on-prem environments. Rocky offers the same level of performance and consistency across private clouds, hybrid setups, and multiple public clouds. That’s critical for controlling costs while delivering top-tier performance, especially for AI development or big data processing. Rocky Linux is quickly becoming the go-to for building AI platforms—flexible, secure, designed for the enterprise, and free from vendor lock-in. Plus, it scales effortlessly, making it a fit for startups and massive enterprises alike.

Looking ahead: what’s next?

CIQ has always been forward-thinking, and it’s exciting to see Oracle catching up. Rocky Linux aligns perfectly with Oracle’s vision for the future. The combination of AI and multi-cloud is transforming the industry, and Rocky is at the heart of it. We’re enabling businesses to build scalable, powerful AI platforms that run seamlessly across clouds or on-prem, without the usual headaches.

As autonomous systems continue to rise, there’s no doubt that Rocky will remain the OS of choice for enterprises pushing the boundaries of innovation.

Talk to your Oracle rep about running Rocky Linux on OCI—because the future is here, and Rocky Linux is AI-ready.