Red Hat gave notice in their press conference this morning that it is taking over the virtualization applications KVM (Kernel Virtual Machine) and SolidICE from Qumranet, Inc. KVM has already been a component of the Linux kernel for two years. Via this acquisition, Red Hat predicts short development times and ensures comprehensive hardware support, thereby providing a strategic advantage over other solutions. SolidICE is a desktop virtualization system that can coexist with Linux or Windows. According to Red Hat CEO and President Jim Whitehurst in response to the acquisition, Red Hat thus becomes one of only two enterprises worldwide that offers complete virtualization solutions, emphasizing its equal rank with Microsoft as technology leader. Red Hat clarifies its target customers on its website in that it will offer Windows desktop users a secure and scalable virtualization platform. According to Red Hat's concept, the product will manage Windows as well as Linux server and desktop virtualization.

As CEO of Qumranet Benny Schnaider confirms, all Qumranet employees will transition to Red Hat. "We could not have found a better partner," he states. Red Hat paid around $107M in cash for the company. The acquisition should have an effect by the end of Red Hat's February 2009 fiscal year, with the revenue in the following year expected to be $20M.

Up until now the Linux distribution had set Xen as the virtualization solution for its Enterprise product RHEL. In a conversation with Red Hat manager Paul Cormier, he confirms that Xen as a component of RHEL 5 would be supported at least until 2014. However, the new Hypervisor, presented at this year's Red Hat Summit conference and to be available end of 2008, will be based on KVM. Red Hat is working on a management infrastructure to support the KVM technology.