Linux Pro Talks to Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst
Real Time Trading, the cloud, virtualization and the future of virtual desktops were issues Red Hat President and CEO Jim Whitehurst addressed during a press roundtable in Munich.
Red Hat CEO and President, Jim Whitehurst was a guest today in Munich where he addressed the press on Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization, the cloud, and virtual desktop infrastructure.
One of the issues that Red Hat and therefore Whitehurst is currently peddling is their RHEV platform. After the purchase of Qumranetin 2008, Red Hat has had a major chip in the virtualization game and a direct handle on the KVM open source hypervisor.
Oracle
About a month ago Oracle debuted its Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel, optimized for Oracle software and hardware. Many within the industry viewed Oracle's new kernel as an attempt to wall out other vendors and lock Oracle adopters into the platform. Oracle did allow that Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 applications would run unchanged on the company's new kernel, but recommended a shift to the Unbreakable Kernel for maximum optimization.
Oracle's decision lead many to believe the relationship between the company and Red Hat were strained, an assumption Whitehurst is quick to correct. "We appreciate what they're for freedom and openness of Java. But the Open Solaris and MySQL thing was definitely not open source friendly."
RHEV, Delta Cloud and Messaging
Virtualization, virtual desktop infrastructure and real-time messaging are high on Red Hat's priority list with RHEV 3.0 releasing next year. "We work one module after the other," said the CEO, "which brings us ever closer to the Microsoft-free solution for RHEV management."
Red Hat's Delta Cloud is an abstraction prevention API . With Delta Cloud in place, VMs can focus on managing their cloud environments rather than API changes and incompatibilities, across all major platforms, thus circumventing the much-dreaded vendor lock-in.
In November the German Frankfurt Exchange will take its new management system based on Red Hat live. "We have the fastest system for stock exchanges," said Whitehurst.
The Red Hat CEO also acknowledged that the customer landscape is changing: "A few years ago we had almost only companies with high technological standards and know-how in the IT industry, but now we get more customers for whom IT is only a means to an end. "said the CEO.
Virtual desktops?
When asked about the future of the desktop, Whitehurst was ambivalent, even under the heading of Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI). "VDIs are a crutch that we need. They are the symptom of a paradigm shift, an old infrastructure."
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
![Learn More](https://www.linux-magazine.com/var/linux_magazin/storage/images/media/linux-magazine-eng-us/images/misc/learn-more/834592-1-eng-US/Learn-More_medium.png)
News
-
NVIDIA Released Driver for Upcoming NVIDIA 560 GPU for Linux
Not only has NVIDIA released the driver for its upcoming CPU series, it's the first release that defaults to using open-source GPU kernel modules.
-
OpenMandriva Lx 24.07 Released
If you’re into rolling release Linux distributions, OpenMandriva ROME has a new snapshot with a new kernel.
-
Kernel 6.10 Available for General Usage
Linus Torvalds has released the 6.10 kernel and it includes significant performance increases for Intel Core hybrid systems and more.
-
TUXEDO Computers Releases InfinityBook Pro 14 Gen9 Laptop
Sporting either AMD or Intel CPUs, the TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro 14 is an extremely compact, lightweight, sturdy powerhouse.
-
Google Extends Support for Linux Kernels Used for Android
Because the LTS Linux kernel releases are so important to Android, Google has decided to extend the support period beyond that offered by the kernel development team.
-
Linux Mint 22 Stable Delayed
If you're anxious about getting your hands on the stable release of Linux Mint 22, it looks as if you're going to have to wait a bit longer.
-
Nitrux 3.5.1 Available for Install
The latest version of the immutable, systemd-free distribution includes an updated kernel and NVIDIA driver.
-
Debian 12.6 Released with Plenty of Bug Fixes and Updates
The sixth update to Debian "Bookworm" is all about security mitigations and making adjustments for some "serious problems."
-
Canonical Offers 12-Year LTS for Open Source Docker Images
Canonical is expanding its LTS offering to reach beyond the DEB packages with a new distro-less Docker image.
-
Plasma Desktop 6.1 Released with Several Enhancements
If you're a fan of Plasma Desktop, you should be excited about this new point release.