Excelsoft Signs Distribution Agreement with CIQ to Launch Rocky Linux and AI/HPC Infrastructure Solutions in Japan

Excelsoft K.K. (Minato-ku, Tokyo) has signed a distribution agreement with CIQ (Headquarters: Reno, Nevada, USA), the founding sponsor of Rocky Linux and a major provider of enterprise Linux infrastructure.

From June 10, 2026, Excelsoft will begin handling CIQ product suites, including RLC Pro (Rocky Linux from CIQ), Ascender Pro, Fuzzball, Warewulf Pro, and Apptainer, as the first authorized distributor of CIQ products in Japan. In addition to issuing quotes in Japanese Yen and supporting invoice payments, Excelsoft will provide Japanese-language support for pre-installation consultations, requirements gathering, and post-purchase inquiries, establishing a sales framework that makes it easier for domestic enterprises to adopt CIQ products.

Bjorn Hovland, President of CIQ, stated:
"The Japanese enterprise and research computing market holds great potential for CIQ. Excelsoft is an ideal partner for us, equipped with deep technical expertise, a solid customer base, and the framework to provide long-term support. Through our partnership, we will assist Japanese customers in more easily adopting and operating world-class AI/HPC infrastructure solutions on a reliable foundation."

■ Product Overview
RLC Pro is an enterprise Linux subscription with commercial support for reliable operation of 'Rocky Linux' in production environments. Variations include 'RLC Pro Hardened' for environments with strict security requirements and 'RLC Pro AI' for HPC/AI/ML workloads.

Fuzzball is an orchestration platform for executing and managing HPC/AI workloads from on-premises to multi-cloud environments via a Web UI. Warewulf Pro is a provisioning platform that standardizes the construction and operation of HPC clusters. Apptainer (formerly Singularity) is a container system designed for HPC environments. Ascender Pro is an infrastructure automation platform based on Ansible AWX.