Just in time for the release of Icehouse, the latest and greatest version of the OpenStack open source cloud computing platform, Dell and Red Hat (RHT) have partnered to deliver new private cloud OpenStack deployment solutions for the enterprise. They have also expanded their collaboration on all types of cloud solutions, public, private and hybrid through development of a new OpenShift PaaS product.

The partnership announcement came during this week's Red Hat summit in San Francisco. The most specific part of the agreement involves delivering a series of OpenStack-deployment services called Dell Red Hat Cloud Solutions (which is about as straightforward as a name could be, I would note). Available now, the services "have been optimized and validated by Dell and Red Hat to provide rapid on-ramps to OpenStack private clouds," according to the companies.

Specifically, Dell Red Hat Cloud Solutions provides IT support for organizations interested in deploying OpenStack in different ways. For enterprises that want to explore OpenStack solutions—and in a sign of Dell's and Red Hat's awareness that OpenStack adoption remains tepid among many potential customers—Dell and Red Hat offer what they call a Proof of Concept Configuration for testing the waters. Enterprises that are already committed to creating production OpenStack environments can leverage the Pilot Configuration, which provides support for large-scale OpenStack deployments.

Dell-Red Hat collaboration around OpenStack doesn't end there. The companies also announced this week they will work together on products and services related to OpenShift, a PaaS open source platform for delivering cloud-based applications using Linux Containers. The companies have not yet described the details of their OpenShift product or indicated when it will be available, but they say it "will provide support for customers to use within their frameworks and databases, through the use of Docker-based images and cartridges, with the goal of enabling integration with any other platform that supports Docker, including public clouds. This capability gives developers the freedom to choose their application development language to build a portable application that can exist in any cloud environment."