Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 brings AI & post-quantum security

Red Hat has launched Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, aiming to address the needs of enterprises managing hybrid cloud environments and AI-driven workloads.

According to Red Hat, the new release is designed as a strategic foundation for enterprise IT, offering enhanced intelligence, robust security features, and a container-centred operating system environment to help organisations manage increased complexity and future technology shifts.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 introduces Red Hat Enterprise Linux Lightspeed, which integrates generative AI directly within the platform. This feature is intended to provide users with context-aware guidance and actionable recommendations through a natural language interface. Drawing on decades of Red Hat Enterprise Linux expertise, Lightspeed assists IT professionals with troubleshooting and best practices for managing large and complex Linux environments.

To strengthen its security offering, Red Hat says Enterprise Linux 10 is the first enterprise Linux distribution to integrate Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) compliance for post-quantum cryptography. In anticipation of the long-term risks posed by quantum computing, Red Hat has incorporated quantum-resistant algorithms and post-quantum signature schemes to help defend against potential decryption of data harvested today and to meet future regulatory requirements.

The platform also introduces image mode, a container-native approach that enables the unified build, deployment, and management of operating systems and applications within a single workflow. Image mode seeks to minimise configuration drift and deliver consistent tools and processes across development and IT operations teams.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 includes new capabilities through Red Hat Insights, such as image builder package recommendations, giving IT departments guidance on package configuration prior to deployment in production. Insights planning also provides a view into the platform's roadmap and lifecycle, designed to improve future planning for IT organisations.

The release further expands support for hybrid environments by offering pre-tuned and supported Red Hat Enterprise Linux images on AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure. The new extensions repository facilitates secure access to community-supported software such as Podman Desktop. A developer preview for the RISC-V architecture in collaboration with SiFive is included, targeting early adoption and testing.

Additional security enhancements are provided with the forthcoming Red Hat Enterprise Linux Security Select Add-On, allowing users to request fixes for up to 10 specific Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) annually.

Gunnar Hellekson, Vice President and General Manager of Red Hat Enterprise Linux at Red Hat, stated, "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 is engineered to empower enterprise IT and developers to not just manage the present, but to architect the future. With intelligent features using gen AI, unified hybrid cloud management through image mode and a proactive approach to security with post-quantum cryptography, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 provides the robust and innovative foundation needed to thrive in the era of hybrid cloud and AI."

Industrial technology company ABB has collaborated with Red Hat on the new release. Stefan Basenach, Senior Vice President, Process Automation Technology at ABB, commented, "In collaboration with Red Hat, ABB is committed to extending operational consistency for industrial use cases across edge and hybrid cloud environments, transforming process automation and industrial controls for the future. Using image mode for Red Hat Enterprise Linux, ABB is able to simplify the operating system build process to streamline our development lifecycle and implement a standardised installation method. This results in faster product innovations and a more appliance-like workflow for deployments, so customers can spend less time in setup and focus more on putting ABB's technologies to use to generate business outcomes."

Ryan Caskey, Research Manager at IDC, observed the growing complexity for businesses using Linux. He said, "Due to evolving operational requirements, organisations can accumulate diverse Linux distributions, and the consistent maintenance of these heterogeneous environments can become increasingly challenging. Large-scale and intricate infrastructures, as well as teams that are routinely understaffed, underskilled and underfunded, present problems in need of solutions. Red Hat Enterprise Linux aims to establish a robust, foundational layer for both current and future IT strategic initiatives."

Anish Bhatt, Software Architect at Salesforce, discussed the practical benefits of the new image mode. "In today's increasingly complex technology landscape, managing infrastructure at scale can be a challenge. Image mode allows consolidation of our pipelines and build processes, which are increasingly geared towards containerisation. It has also brought stability to our environments, reducing configuration drift and enabling a more consistent deployment experience. We can also upgrade between major and minor releases of Red Hat Enterprise Linux with less operational risk due to the ability to quickly roll back changes. Image mode is a meaningful step towards simplifying cloud-native application development and IT operations in a single pipeline."

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 is available to customers via the Red Hat Customer Portal and is also accessible to developers through Red Hat's Developer programmes.