CIQ announced on November 6, 2025, that its Rocky Linux distribution is the first authorized to deliver NVIDIA's complete AI software stack, including the CUDA Toolkit and DOCA OFED. This integration aims to simplify GPU deployments for AI and high-performance computing workloads. The move promises faster setup times and easier scaling for enterprises.
On November 6, 2025, in Reno, Nevada, CIQ, the founding support and services partner of Rocky Linux, revealed expanded capabilities for Rocky Linux from CIQ (RLC). The update adds NVIDIA DOCA OFED support alongside the previously announced NVIDIA CUDA Toolkit integration from September 2025, making RLC the first Linux distribution licensed to provide the full NVIDIA AI and networking software stack out of the box.
This pre-built, validated environment targets AI, machine learning, high-performance computing (HPC), and cloud-native workloads. It addresses common challenges like driver conflicts and configuration issues during scaling from development to production clusters spanning thousands of nodes. For instance, internal benchmarks show deployment times reduced from 30 minutes to three minutes, accelerating from installation to the first AI token up to nine times faster.
Key features include instant productivity with pre-configured setups, enterprise-scale readiness via optimized GPU-to-GPU communication using RDMA and IDPF, and lower total cost of ownership through minimized troubleshooting. The platform also offers enterprise-grade security with fully signed drivers and secure boot support, alongside deterministic performance for mission-critical tasks. It is compatible with hardware from Dell, such as the PowerEdge XE9680, and HPE.
Gregory Kurtzer, Founder and CEO of CIQ, stated: “If you’re building applications that leverage accelerated computing, Rocky Linux from CIQ is now the obvious choice. 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.”
CIQ plans to demonstrate the integration at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon North America (November 10-13, 2025, in Atlanta) and SC25 (November 16-21, 2025, in St. Louis), featuring NVIDIA ConnectX SuperNICs and BlueField DPUs in reference kits.
The RLC-AI variant, unveiled in May 2025, enhances stability for tasks like model training and inference, positioning Rocky Linux as a streamlined option for sectors including healthcare and finance.