Rocky Linux from CIQ Becomes the first Linux Distribution Authorized to Deliver Complete NVIDIA AI Software Stack for Modern AI, HPC and Cloud Native Workloads

Rocky Linux from CIQ images provide developers and enterprises with validated, ready-to-run access to the complete NVIDIA software stack, including CUDA Toolkit and DOCA OFED, enabling seamless scaling from development to production clusters with, at minimum, thousands of nodes

RENO, Nev., Nov. 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- CIQ today announced expanded capabilities, adding NVIDIA DOCA OFED support to Rocky Linux from CIQ (RLC) and Rocky Linux from CIQ - AI (RLC-AI) alongside the previously announced NVIDIA CUDA Toolkit integration. This enhancement makes RLC the first Linux distribution licensed to deliver the NVIDIA AI and networking software stack, including CUDA Toolkit and DOCA OFED, ready to run out of the box. RLC-AI with the integrated NVIDIA AI stack enables enterprises to move from installation to inference 9x faster, freeing teams to focus on innovation rather than infrastructure configuration, based on internal benchmarking (1).

CIQ is the founding support and services partner of Rocky Linux and a leader in high-performance software infrastructure. These expanded capabilities position RLC as the definitive platform for both GPU-accelerated development and enterprise-scale cluster deployments. While developers benefit from an appliance-like experience for GPU computing, enterprises gain the critical networking and interconnect capabilities needed to deploy and optimize large-scale clusters with thousands of nodes running on premium hardware from DELL, HPE, and other tier-one server manufacturers.

Accelerated computing has evolved from specialized hardware to essential infrastructure for AI, machine learning, and scientific computing. Yet organizations face a dual challenge: deploying AI software stacks with their driver conflicts and configuration complexities, then scaling from development nodes to production clusters with thousands of nodes.

This scaling challenge occurs when proof-of-concept deployments move to production. At scale, network optimization and GPU-to-GPU communication become critical bottlenecks. Enterprise-grade servers like the Dell PowerEdge XE9680 require sophisticated networking capabilities including DOCA OFED, RDMA, and IDPF to enable efficient multi-GPU communication across nodes.

Rocky Linux from CIQ and RLC-AI solve both challenges with pre-built, validated images containing the complete NVIDIA stack: CUDA Toolkit, DOCA OFED network drivers, and supporting components. Organizations deploy production-ready environments 9x faster, reducing setup from 30 minutes to just 3 minutes, and scale seamlessly to thousand-node clusters. CIQ eliminates complexity at every stage, accelerating innovation while dramatically lowering total cost of ownership with NVIDIA.

"If you're building applications that leverage accelerated computing, Rocky Linux from CIQ is now the obvious choice," said Gregory Kurtzer, Founder and CEO of CIQ. "We've removed every barrier between developers and GPU performance. With the complete, validated NVIDIA stack integrated directly into Rocky Linux from CIQ, teams can focus entirely on innovation rather than infrastructure. This is the appliance experience that the developer community has needed: download, deploy, and start building immediately."

The platform delivers significant advantages for development teams:

• Instant productivity: Move from installation to first token 9x faster with pre-configured, validated environments
• Enterprise-scale readiness: Full DOCA OFED integration enables seamless scaling from development nodes to thousands of production nodes with optimized GPU-to-GPU communication
• Lower TCO: Reduced setup time, minimized troubleshooting, and optimized efficiency translate to substantial cost savings across the development and deployment lifecycle
• Zero guesswork: Every component, from GPU drivers to network stacks, is tested and certified, eliminating configuration uncertainty across the entire infrastructure
• Advanced networking: Built-in support for RDMA, IDPF, and high-performance interconnects optimizes cluster communication for demanding workloads
• Enterprise-grade security: Fully signed drivers and secure boot support built in, solving the complex challenge of GPU driver deployment in modern security-conscious environments

CIQ will showcase this new full-stack experience at upcoming developer events, including KubeCon + CloudNativeCon North America (November 10-13, 2025, Atlanta) and SC25 (November 16-21, 2025, St. Louis), where partners will demonstrate validated reference kits and real-world use cases featuring Rocky Linux from CIQ with NVIDIA AI infrastructure, NVIDIA ConnectX SuperNICs and NVIDIA BlueField DPUs.

For more information about Rocky Linux from CIQ with integrated NVIDIA support, visit https://ciq.com/partners/nvidia/.

1- Benchmark results are based on bare-metal installations of Enterprise Linux configured with a data-center-class GPU and a Hugging Face LLM workload.

About CIQ
CIQ is building the next-generation secure and performant software infrastructure stack for the AI era. Founded in 2020 by open source pioneer Gregory Kurtzer, CIQ helps organizations simplify, unify, and democratize high-performance computing and enterprise IT. CIQ is the founding support and services partner of Rocky Linux and the creator of products like Fuzzball, Warewulf Pro, Ascender Pro, and Rocky Linux from CIQ. The company provides scalable, open infrastructure solutions that empower innovation from the operating system up. Rooted in a community-first philosophy, CIQ is trusted by organizations modernizing for a future defined by data and AI. Learn more at https://ciq.com.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Cristin Connelly
Cathey.co for CIQ
[email protected]

SOURCE CIQ