After a busy week of server launches and processor unveilings, Red Hat has brought open source to the forefront with the release of its Enterprise Linux version 5.5.
The latest version was designed with these recent launches in mind, providing support for the likes of IBM, HP and Dell, along with support for AMD's Opteron 6000 series and Intel's Nehalem EX architecture.
The design of version 5.5 also took into account changing environments and has features to ensure it can operating effectively across virtual and cloud-based solutions, as well as the physical environments too.
"We believe that Red Hat Enterprise Linux continues to drive the evolution of the operating platform forward with new technology that delivers performance, reliability, scalability and affordability results for our customers," said Tim Burke, vice president of platform engineering at Red Hat, in a statement.
In its version 5.4 release in September, Red Hat added the Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) hypervisor to go alongside the existing Xen hypervisor.
It has now added support for large memory systems, increasing the number of virtual machines able to run on each physical server.
There has also been an improvement to its interoperability with Windows 7.
"Red Hat Enterprise Linux provides a powerful foundation for physical, virtual and cloud deployments, and for many, continues to be the platform of choice for their most demanding mission-critical workloads," added Burke.
The beta has been running for about a month now and this version will fill the gap whilst Red Hat starts work on its next-generation Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 platform, expected to be launched at its annual summer event in June.
