About CIQ.
CIQ (Ctrl IQ, Inc.) is an enterprise infrastructure software company founded in April 2020 by Gregory Kurtzer, the original creator of CentOS, Warewulf, and Singularity (now Apptainer). Headquartered in Reno, Nevada, CIQ is the founding commercial sponsor of Rocky Linux and builds the full Linux, HPC, and AI infrastructure stack, from the kernel to the orchestrator. CIQ is trusted by 90% of the world's largest enterprises, with more than 2.75 million + actively deployed Rocky Linux instances worldwide.
2020
Founded
By Gregory Kurtzer in Reno, Nevada
2.75M+
Rocky Linux deployments
Active instances worldwide, per EPEL telemetry
90%
Of the largest enterprises
Rely on CIQ's infrastructure software
9
Enterprise products
Spanning the kernel to the orchestrator
Built to solve a problem in the lab
Gregory Kurtzer set out to solve a problem that turned into a company. While working at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, he built Warewulf and co-created CentOS to give scientists the infrastructure they lacked. He founded CIQ in April 2020 on a simple principle: build what people genuinely need, build it well, and make sure it lasts.
That December, when Red Hat announced that CentOS would shift away from being a stable downstream rebuild of RHEL, Kurtzer rallied the community to build Rocky Linux, the open, enterprise-grade and production-ready successor.
Today, CIQ delivers and supports the full infrastructure stack: Rocky Linux from CIQ, Warewulf Pro, Fuzzball, Apptainer, and Ascender Pro, for the AI and HPC workloads that research institutions, national laboratories, federal agencies, and AI-native enterprises depend on.
One vendor for the entire infrastructure stack
RLC+
Free, GPU-ready Rocky Linux with pre-integrated NVIDIA and AMD drivers.
RLC Pro
Enterprise Rocky Linux with up to 10 years of support, FIPS 140-3 cryptography, and direct bug fixes.
RLC Pro Hardened
DISA STIG-hardened, FIPS 140-3 validated Linux for regulated environments.
RLC Pro AI
Enterprise Linux pre-validated for GPU-accelerated AI and ML workloads.
Fuzzball
A single control plane that orchestrates AI and HPC workloads across clouds.
Warewulf Pro
Stateless bare-metal cluster provisioning with a web UI and pre-built images.
Apptainer
The open source container platform built for HPC, now a Linux Foundation project. Formerly Singularity.
Ascender Pro
Enterprise automation built on AWX/Ansible with compliance reporting.
CIQ Bridge
Extends CentOS 7 support with CVE remediation through 2028.
Built by its creator, led by a team that's done this before
Gregory Kurtzer
CEO of CIQ and Founder of Rocky Linux
Gregory Kurtzer is the technologist behind CIQ's technology stack. He created CentOS, built Warewulf, and developed Singularity (now Apptainer) during two decades at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, then founded Rocky Linux after Red Hat shifted CentOS upstream. CIQ exists to support, harden, and scale what he built.
From a national lab to national infrastructure
- April 2020
CIQ is founded
Gregory Kurtzer founds CIQ in Reno, Nevada, to build a modern, cloud-native computing platform for performance-intensive workloads.
- December 2020
Rocky Linux is announced
When Red Hat shifts CentOS upstream, Kurtzer's public call to rebuild it draws more than 10,000 volunteers in six weeks, launching Rocky Linux as the community-governed CentOS successor.
- May 2022
$26M Series A
CIQ closes a $26 million Series A led by Two Bear Capital to scale its Enterprise Linux and HPC infrastructure platform.
- 2023
Co-founds OpenELA
Kurtzer co-founds the Open Enterprise Linux Association with Oracle and SUSE to keep Enterprise Linux source code open and accessible.
- April 2025
FIPS 140-3 validated
Rocky Linux from CIQ ships FIPS 140-3 validated cryptography, extending compliance-grade security to regulated industries.
- July 2025
Peter Nelson joins as CTO
Apple and Claris veteran Peter Nelson joins CIQ as Chief Technology Officer, leading engineering, product, and design.
- November 2025
HPCwire award for Warewulf Pro
Warewulf Pro wins a 2025 HPCwire Readers' and Editors' Choice Award.
- December 2025
Bjorn Hovland named President
Hovland is promoted to President to lead CIQ's global expansion as demand for sovereign, secure AI infrastructure accelerates.
- 2026
CIQ Linux Kernel & Fuzzball 4.0
CIQ introduces the CIQ Linux Kernel and ships Fuzzball 4.0, extending multi-cloud AI and HPC orchestration.
Why organizations choose CIQ
Founding sponsor of Rocky Linux
CIQ funds and supports Rocky Linux without owning or controlling it — governance sits with the community-run Rocky Enterprise Software Foundation.
One vendor, the whole stack
From the Linux kernel through containers, provisioning, and orchestration, CIQ builds and supports every layer so nothing falls through the cracks.
Security built into every layer
FIPS 140-3 validated cryptography and DISA STIG-hardened builds meet the bar for regulated industries and federal environments.
Built for performance-intensive workloads
CIQ's infrastructure is engineered for GPU-accelerated AI training and inference alongside traditional HPC, from the ground up.
Trusted by the largest enterprises, research institutions, and government agencies.
“Equipping our researchers with the computing resources they need to do their best work is paramount to furthering our institutional mission. The CIQ team helped us map out a game plan to make it happen, faster than we'd imagined possible and with a sharp eye on project management”
United in our diversity
Frequently asked questions
CIQ (Ctrl IQ, Inc.) is an enterprise infrastructure software company and the founding commercial sponsor of Rocky Linux. Founded in 2020, CIQ builds and supports the Linux, HPC, and AI infrastructure stack — from the kernel to the orchestrator — for enterprises, research institutions, and government agencies. CIQ's software is trusted by 90% of the world's largest enterprises, with more than 2.75 million + actively deployed Rocky Linux instances worldwide.
CIQ was founded in April 2020 by Gregory Kurtzer, the original creator of CentOS, Warewulf, and Singularity (now Apptainer). Read the full founding story.
CIQ is headquartered in Reno, Nevada, with an additional office in Abu Dhabi, UAE, serving customers across the Middle East.
CIQ's leadership team includes Gregory Kurtzer (Founder & CEO), Bjorn Hovland (President), Marlin Prager (CFO), and Peter Nelson (CTO). Meet the full leadership team.
CIQ's product portfolio includes RLC Pro, RLC Pro AI, RLC Pro Hardened, Fuzzball, Warewulf Pro, Apptainer, Ascender Pro, and CIQ Bridge. See the full product lineup.
Yes. CIQ closed a $26 million Series A round led by Two Bear Capital in May 2022 to scale its enterprise infrastructure platform.
No. CIQ is the founding sponsor of Rocky Linux and its primary service partner, but Rocky Linux is governed by the community-run Rocky Enterprise Software Foundation (RESF). See more in our FAQs.
Reach CIQ through the contact page, or explore open roles on the careers page.