Ceph, the open source, software-defined storage system for Big Data and the cloud that at first made strong inroads in the Ubuntu Linux ecosystem, has solidified its place in the Red Hat (RHT) world as well. That news comes as part of the release this week of Inktank Ceph Enterprise version 1.1, which is certified for Red Hat platforms, according to parent company Inktank.

In particular, Intank Ceph Enterprise 1.1 features certification for use with the Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform, Red Hat’s solution for building open source private and public clouds based on OpenStack. In addition, Inktank, which oversees development of the open source Ceph file system and offers commercial support services for it, is offering official support for using the new Ceph product with the Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization 3.3 platform.

The Inktank Ceph Enterprise 1.1 release also adds some new software features to the platform, which saw its last update in October 2013. Those include enhanced visualization and interface features for the Calamari graphical management tool that is part of the Inktank Ceph Enterprise package, as well as a bump up in the underlying Ceph software to version 0.67.5.

Inktank’s embrace of the Red Hat ecosystem is significant since one of the company’s earliest backers was Mark Shuttleworth, former CEO of Canonical and founder of Ubuntu Linux. Back in September 2012, Shuttleworth personally invested $1 million in Inktank, and Canonical and Inktank have worked closely together since. Meanwhile, Red Hat had focused most of its energy on GlusterFS and other components of the Gluster project, another open source software-defined storage system that is a competitor for Ceph in many ways.

Inktank’s certification of its flagship enterprise product to work with RHEL doesn’t mean Red Hat will stop supporting Gluster. But it is a sign that the Ceph ecosystem, and Inktank’s engagement across the channel, are growing broader and more diverse. Besides Canonical and Red Hat, Inktank has previously secured partnerships with other big names in the open source world, including Dell and SUSE.

And channel partnerships aren’t all Inktank has been building. It also announced this week the opening of Inktank University, which will run both online and in-the-flesh training courses to provide expertise in Ceph deployment to the IT workforce. The initiative, which is similar to what Rackspace has been doing to educate OpenStack admins in open source cloud deployment, is another indication that Inktank and Ceph are on their way to becoming a major presence in the open source Big Data and cloud ecosystems.