IBM Corp.’s Red Hat subsidiary says the new version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, which is being announced today at the Red Hat Summit in Boston, is a complete rethink of the operating system around hybrid cloud environments and artificial intelligence workloads.

The details, however, are less about vision than pragmatic improvements, such as simpler administration, smarter management, tighter security and a consistent operating model across workloads.

Every software application has a generative AI assistant, and RHEL 10 is now no exception. Its new copilot, called Lightspeed, is aimed at addressing the chronic shortage of Linux administrators. Instead of paging through documentation or relying on tribal knowledge, Linux administrators can now get context-aware recommendations directly at the command line, Red Hat said.

The feature taps into decades of RHEL-specific expertise, offering help with troubleshooting, compliance and best practices. It can be a productivity booster and a training aid for less experienced staff.

“This really expands the usability of RHEL, making it easier for less-trained users to access and apply our knowledge quickly,” said Scott McCarty, global senior principal product manager for Red Hat. “Architects can benefit too; it’s about surfacing lifecycle data and roadmaps more clearly to help with long-term infrastructure planning.”

RHEL 10 is the first enterprise Linux distribution to integrate post-quantum cryptography that complies with Federal Information Processing Standards. This includes quantum-resistant algorithms designed to thwart “harvest now, decrypt later” attacks.

The imminent arrival of commercial-grade quantum computers has caused heartburn in the security community because of their potential to defeat today’s most powerful encryption algorithms in seconds. “Harvest now, decrypt later” attacks aim to gather encrypted data for unscrambling later when quantum processors arrive.

Unified app and OS management

RHEL 10 also introduces a container-native operating model through its new “image mode.” This isn’t about running applications in software containers but managing the operating system in the same declarative, image-based way developers manage applications.

Red Hat said unifying application and operating system management minimizes configuration drift and simplifies operations across hybrid environments. Users can manage their entire information technology landscape, from containerized applications to the underlying platform, with consistent tools and techniques.

“Image mode brings container-based practices to the OS layer, making updates and rollbacks as easy as a single command, while reducing the attack surface,” said Raj Das, senior director of product management for RHEL at Red Hat.

Borrowing from “shift left” development, a software engineering practice that moves tasks such as testing, security and quality checks earlier in the development lifecycle, Red Hat is expanding its Insights predictive analytics suite to include AI-driven package recommendations and roadmap visibility. It said the tools should help IT teams make more informed decisions at build time to avoid rework in production.

For example, Insights suggests add-on packages relevant to a deployment’s needs when building images to optimize functionality before entering production. The planning features provide visibility into RHEL’s lifecycle and AppStream releases to help organizations stay on supported versions and plan upgrades.

The air-gapped edge

The Satellite infrastructure management product now includes Insights advisor capabilities without requiring an active internet connection. This air-gapped model is intended for highly regulated industries or those with strict network policies.

Satellite 6.17 now supports RHEL’s image mode, further aligning with Red Hat’s container-native management strategy. Red Hat said customers can use Satellite to manage their entire IT landscape, even in restricted environments.

RHEL 10 ships with pretuned images for the Amazon Web Services Inc., Microsoft Corp. Azure and Google LLC clouds, underscoring the company’s hybrid cloud focus. A developer preview is also available for the RISC-V architecture via a partnership with fabless semiconductor company SiFive Inc., to foster early development on emerging hardware platforms.

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