LSD Open, a cloud-native and AI systems integration specialist, has achieved Red Hat Specialized Partner status for Mission Critical Automation, joining a small group of Red Hat partners worldwide that hold the designation.

The status validates LSD Open’s ability to architect and deploy automated workflows using Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform.

Automation has moved from a nice-to-have to an operational requirement as companies run more of their estates on hybrid cloud and begin deploying agentic AI — both of which depend on infrastructure that stays available without being noticed. Research by IDC, commissioned by Red Hat, found that organisations standardising on Ansible Automation Platform recorded 61% less unplanned downtime and deployed new compute resources 68% faster¹. Those are numbers that feed directly into cost and time to market (¹International Data Corp, The Business Value of Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, business value white paper sponsored by Red Hat, March 2024, IDC #US51839824.)

Expertise in sacling enterprise automation

The specialisation confirms LSD Open’s expertise in scaling enterprise automation, and it unlocks financial and other benefits for customers that automate with the company.

“Earning this specialisation highlights LSD’s deeper philosophy: real digital transformation happens when you free highly skilled people from repetitive work. Red Hat Ansible is foundational to how we help companies redefine their operational culture. We’re thrilled to bring this capability to our clients, helping them move away from custom scripts and fragmented tools towards unified, enterprise-grade automation that scales alongside their ambitions.” — LSD Open

The specialisation is a response to the pressures facing regional CIOs. As internal skills gaps widen and compliance requirements tighten, the ability to automate with guardrails matters more. LSD Open’s Ansible-focused services are designed to close those gaps, allowing teams to scale their output without raising their operational risk.

“Red Hat is dedicated to empowering our partners with the agility, skills and support they need to meet customer demand more effectively,” says Kim Lasseter, global senior director for partner engagement experience at Red Hat. “Through the Red Hat Specialized Partner programme, we are further enabling validated partners to develop and showcase their expertise in high-demand areas that are critical to our customers’ success.”

LSD Open, a Red Hat Premier Business Partner, already holds Red Hat Specialized Partner status for Container Management and for Virtualization, the latter awarded for sub-Saharan Africa. The company has been named Red Hat’s sub-Saharan Africa partner of the year three years running.