Red Hat releases new open source enterprise OS

Open source software provider and Linux vendor Red Hat has announced the global availability of its latest enterprise operating system.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3 will increase virtualisation scalability, expanded hardware platform support and the incorporation of OpenJDK Java Technologies.

The OS will have the ability to support virtual servers with up to 32 virtual CPUs and 80GB of memory. Physical server limits have also been expanded to match the size of current hardware systems, with up to 126 CPUs and 1TB main memory.

Hardware platform support has been added for Intel i7 Nehalem processors. Red Hat claimed the new OS will deliver "exceptional" performance, with added features such as power management and hyperthreading.

Vice president of Intel Software and Services Doug Fisher said in a statement that the combination of the new OS and future Intel Xeon processor based-servers would allow customers to run "demanding business-critical workloads on high performance and cost-effective platforms."

Customers with a Red Hat Enterprise Linux subscription will receive the version 5.3 update available by download from the Red Hat Network.