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CIQ's Innovations in AI and HPC at SC25

As the global supercomputing community gathered in St. Louis for SC25, CIQ took center stage as the founding sponsor of Rocky Linux, presenting its latest advancements in AI and High-Performance Computing (HPC) infrastructure. This year's showcase emphasized how CIQ has transformed organizations' approaches to building, managing, and securing their computing infrastructures in an era increasingly defined by AI and complex workloads.

Addressing Infrastructure Challenges

CIQ has recognized the critical gap in infrastructure software - the vital link between advanced AI applications and cutting-edge hardware. It strives to innovate within this space, especially given the pace at which modern workload demands are evolving. The company's offerings constitute a complete infrastructure stack, encompassing everything from the kernel level to cluster orchestration, ensuring the high performance and security that contemporary AI and HPC environments necessitate.

Throughout 2025, CIQ has continuously rolled out innovations poised to tackle the pressing challenges faced by organizations operating performance-intensive workloads. Key issues addressed include the complexity of GPU software, the management of hybrid infrastructures, difficulties in deploying clusters, and the need for robust enterprise-grade security. These advancements are already supporting numerous demanding computing environments across various sectors, including government, financial services, life sciences, and manufacturing.

Key Highlights from 2025

• - Expansion of CIQ and NVIDIA Capabilities: CIQ's partnership with NVIDIA has rapidly evolved, incorporating NVIDIA DOCA OFED support into Rocky Linux from CIQ (RLC) and Rocky Linux from CIQ - AI (RLC-AI). This integration allows RLC to be the first Linux distribution to deliver an entirely packaged NVIDIA AI and networking software stack. With this out-of-the-box offering, enterprises can enhance their speed from installation to inference by an impressive ninefold, enabling teams to focus on innovation rather than grappling with infrastructure configuration.

• - Ascender Pro: CIQ unveiled its enterprise automation solution that resolves the age-old trade-off between deployment speed and security. Built on the dependable Ansible AWX framework, Ascender Pro provides meticulous role-based access control, comprehensive audit trails through its Ledger system, and workflow orchestration to ensure consistent security policy enforcement across numerous systems. When paired with RLC-H, organizations can achieve rapid deployment while maintaining an uncompromising security posture.

• - Warewulf Pro: Launched in August, this turnkey solution simplifies the deployment process for enterprises, featuring a user-friendly web interface, pre-built node images optimized for common workloads, and packages ready for production use. According to Jonathon Anderson, a principal HPC engineer at CIQ, deployments that might typically require weeks can now be completed in just hours.

• - Expansion of Cloud Marketplace: CIQ has become Azure's official Endorsed Distribution provider for Rocky Linux and launched RLC-Hardened (RLC-H) and Fuzzball on AWS Marketplace. Additionally, Rocky Linux 9.6 and RLC-H have been made available on Google Cloud, broadening the reach of CIQ's offerings.

• - Purpose-Built Linux Distributions: The company has broadened its Rocky Linux portfolio with RLC-AI, an operating system specifically engineered for AI workloads that comes with optimized kernel configurations and support for confidential computing. RLC-H was also introduced as a security-hardened distribution, complete with LKRG, fortified packages, and an assured supply chain available across all major cloud platforms.

• - FIPS 140-3 Compliance: This April, CIQ achieved significant compliance milestones for Rocky Linux 8 and 9, being recognized under the NIST Modules in Process list for FIPS 140-3. This status ensures that organizations can leverage validated cryptographic security for critical workloads, meeting stringent federal and enterprise security mandates.

• - Fuzzball Federate: Introduced earlier this year, Fuzzball seamlessly integrates clusters for efficient workload orchestration across on-premises and cloud settings, compatible with existing HPC systems. Claire Seibold, director of software and data analytics at FYR, highlighted how Fuzzball empowers them to implement and scale their pipelines for 100x throughput in a fraction of the time.

CIQ's Future Presence

At SC25, visitors can explore reference architectures featuring RLC, Fuzzball, NVIDIA GPUs, and Warewulf Pro, demonstrating a next-generation infrastructure capable of delivering both security and performance simultaneously. CIQ extends an invitation to booth 736 for live demonstrations and further engagement during the event.

About CIQ

Founded in 2020 by open source pioneer Gregory Kurtzer, CIQ is at the forefront of developing secure and efficient software infrastructure for the AI era. As the founding partner for Rocky Linux, CIQ's commitment to simplifying and democratizing high-performance computing is well-established with a range of products, including Fuzzball, Warewulf, and Ascender. CIQ is dedicated to providing innovative and scalable solutions to empower organizations in their mission to navigate the future defined by data-intensive computing and AI advancements. To learn more, visit CIQ's website.