20 years of partnership: how our partners help us take Ubuntu across industries, markets and devices

As we celebrate 20 years of Ubuntu, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on the value of partnership. The idea that software should be open source and accessible to all gave birth to a vibrant community of users and a partner ecosystem who help us take Ubuntu across industries. 

So who do we work with? We are fortunate to count over 100 partners, all of whom have a different relationship with Ubuntu.

Our partnership journey

When Ubuntu launched in 2004, one of our goals was to encourage adoption by the Linux community and establish Ubuntu as a reliable and user-friendly distro. Our first partner was the Debian and Linux community, partners that remain with us to this day. 

As Ubuntu became more widely adopted, other organizations would soon take notice and draw on Ubuntu’s robustness, adaptability and reliability. 

We created our Global Partner Programme in 2007 to drive awareness of Ubuntu as an enterprise-ready server platform. We enlisted the help of partners across the development lifecycle, from application testing and engineering to installation support. 

It was this year that Dell, now a longstanding partner, began to offer laptops which were preloaded with Ubuntu. Since then, a whole ecosystem of devices is now preloaded with Ubuntu. We’ve expanded our partnerships programme to represent the diversity of the technology ecosystem, with separate tracks for the public cloud, IHV/OEM, resellers, ISVs and more.

In this blog, we reflect on how our partners have helped us shape Ubuntu in the face of evolving technology needs. We’ll celebrate how, through collaboration, we’ve made sure that our open source values reach different countries, industries and devices. Here’s to celebrating 20 years of partnership!

Delivering value to developers for 20 years with Intel

Intel has been working with Canonical since our foundation in 2004 – it suffices to say that to tell the whole story would take a blog of its own. The length of our partnership is a testament to how Canonical and Intel have tackled the changing tech landscape, without compromising on our belief in delivering value to developers.

Whilst our mission has stayed the same, the technology has vastly evolved. To bring truly scalable AI within the reach of developers, Canonical worked to optimize Ubuntu for the Intel® Tiber™ Cloud. This is a development environment that increases performance by 10-100X. Together, we’re proud to broaden access to innovation.

In Intel’s video, we talk to their EVP, Chief Technology Officer, Greg Lavender. He reflects on our joint goals of enhancing security and delivering innovation in burgeoning areas like AI.

Securing devices with ASUS IoT

When Ubuntu launched 20 years ago, the Internet of Things looked quite different to how it does today. For end consumers, internet connectivity was associated with computers alone. Mobile phones at the time were primarily for calls and SMS. Whilst devices such as smart fridges and connected phones existed, they were either a proof-of-concept or prohibitively expensive. 

However, it would not be long before the IoT ecosystem truly began to flourish. The advent of smartphones, fitness trackers and industrial IoT was just around the corner. Nowadays, we see specialized hardware for use cases as varied as agricultural tracking, 5G network management and robotics. 

ASUS IoT is a sub-brand of ASUS dedicated to the creation of solutions in the fields of AI and IoT. We began working together in 2021, with the goal of offering more choice to customers in the device market. ASUS IoT chose Ubuntu as a solid choice for security and stability. Given Ubuntu’s track record of successful cross-industry usage, we value collaborating with partners to create solutions for new use cases that work out of the box.

It’s incredibly important for us to work with partners like ASUS IoT, who are at the cutting edge of technology. As use cases become more specialized, we will continue working with partners to identify where Ubuntu can have the biggest impact.

Access our video to hear more from Leslie Yu, Deputy Division Director of Software Design Department at ASUS IoT.

Going to the edge with ADLINK

When we first launched Ubuntu Server (known at the time as “Ubuntu Server Edition”), centralized servers were the predominant mode of organizing a network. Edge computing began to develop around this time with content delivery networks, which were used by eCommerce sites to deliver web content from servers located near to end users. 

The rise of distributed computing and edge computing, powered by the increased power offered by 5G technology, has led organizations to invest in systems that can efficiently distribute their workloads dynamically, reflecting real-time shifts in usage and customer needs.

Linux-based systems offer the light weight, flexibility and freedom required to run increasingly specialized functions in networks. As a provider of embedded computing solutions, ADLINK chose Ubuntu as their OS for delivering secure, reliable IoT gateways for their customers. Together, we combine the flexibility and transparency that Ubuntu is known for with the robust security practices that enterprises expect.

Check out our video to hear Henri Parmentier, Senior Product Manager at ADLINK, reflect on using Ubuntu for IoT gateways.

Building trust in new markets with Edensoft

From the outset, our mission was to create an OS that anybody could use, regardless of their location or background. That’s why when we first launched 20 years ago, our ShipIT service would send CDs at no cost to anyone who requested them in the world. 

As the device market has expanded over the past 20 years, new markets have emerged and began to flourish across the globe. Whilst downloads have largely replaced CDs, our partners often act as the vehicle to bringing Ubuntu to new users. Enterprises often contract managed service providers to advise and build the solutions they need. They place their trust in the provider to recommend the best tools for the job. 

One such partner that we are proud to collaborate with is Edensoft, an integrated IT and cloud managed solutions provider based in China. Our channel partners are key in establishing Ubuntu as a secure, enterprise-grade OS across regions and taking Ubuntu to the forefront of the latest technological developments across the world.

Explore our video to learn more from Diana Ding, Board Chairman at Edensoft, about our 10 years of collaboration.

High performance when pushing the boundaries with Advantech

We’ve worked to ensure Ubuntu offers both stability and versatility when performing in novel situations. That’s what makes partnerships with leaders like Advantech so important.

Advantech is a global leader in the fields of IoT intelligent systems and embedded platforms. They work regularly with clients looking for innovation through AMR (autonomous mobile robots) solutions. A recent example is the optimization of Ubuntu for the RSB-3810. This single board computer, which utilizes the MediaTek Genio-1200 chipset, delivers seamless on-device AI processing, without overconsumption of power. As AI hardware continues to mature and play a role in innovation, we’re delighted to see Ubuntu powering the change.

In their celebratory video, we hear from Advantech’s Joe Chen, Director, Embedded IoT-Group. He reflects on the importance of Ubuntu’s extensive ecosystem of tools, which provide a stable base for Advantech to draw upon when tailoring to their customers’ needs. 

Engineering excellence with Qualcomm

The emergence and maturity of new technologies always provides an opportunity for us to take Ubuntu in new directions. As enterprises move towards AI maturity, it’s important for Canonical to ensure that Ubuntu is available on specialized hardware, so that the choice and transparency of open source is represented there.

Our partnership with Qualcomm is one way in which we are giving developers that choice. Qualcomm is a multinational semiconductor, software and service provider with a strong presence in telecommunications. Qualcomm chose Ubuntu as the basis for creating a development environment on Qualcomm chipsets, with use cases ranging from enabling multimedia hardware acceleration to extracting the best possible system level power and performance from the combination of hardware and software. 

Check out our video to hear from Sandeep Singhai, VP of Engineering at Qualcomm, about how our engineering teams collaborate to ensure that together our efforts produce real results for customers.

Thank you to all of our partners

As we celebrate 20 years of Ubuntu, we want to thank every single one of our partners for their well-wishes.

Come and celebrate with us by visiting our 20 years content hub. You’ll find information about other partners, as well as tales from our wider community.

Visit the hub >