Unlocking what’s next: Everything we announced at Red Hat Summit 2025

Last week at Red Hat Summit 2025, we unveiled a bold vision that builds on Red Hat’s longstanding commitment to running any workload anywhere for the AI era: Red Hat wants to enable organizations to deploy any model, on any accelerator, across any cloud — all powered by open source. We demonstrated how Red Hat enables enterprises to build, deploy and scale AI-driven apps and to manage complex IT environments with precision and control. From the operating system’s core to advanced AI inference, our announcements and demos underscored our dedication to open innovation and a future where hybrid cloud and AI seamlessly converge.

Here’s a look at everything we announced and demonstrated at Red Hat Summit 2025.

Advancing AI for the enterprise

AI took center stage at Red Hat Summit, with a strong focus on making it accessible and performant across the hybrid cloud.

• We introduced Red Hat AI Inference Server, a new offering within the Red Hat AI portfolio that optimizes AI inference across the hybrid cloud for faster, more efficient model deployments. Built from the vLLM community project and enhanced by Red Hat's integration of Neural Magic technologies, AI Inference Server helps any generative AI (gen AI) model run on any AI accelerator across any cloud, datacenter or edge environment, offering a hardened and supported distribution of vLLM. It includes LLM Compressor for model compression and access to a repository of validated and optimized gen AI models on Hugging Face. Developers can use AI Inference Server as a standalone containerized offering or as part of both Red Hat Enterprise Linux AI (RHEL AI) and Red Hat OpenShift AI.
• We announced the general availability of Red Hat OpenShift Lightspeed, our gen AI-based virtual assistant integrated into Red Hat OpenShift to simplify complex IT tasks through tailored, context-aware guidance directly within the OpenShift web console. It offers flexible integration with various model providers, including OpenAI, Azure OpenAI and watsonx, and can also use private AI options. There are also some new technology preview features, including cluster interaction for retrieving context directly from clusters and "Bring Your Own Knowledge" for customizing responses with organizational documentation. OpenShift Lightspeed also provides intelligent assistance specifically for Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization, simplifying virtual machine (VM) migration and modernization efforts.
• We unveiled third-party validated models for Red Hat AI which come with deployment guidance and reproducible outcomes, and select models have been optimized to reduce size and increase inference speed.
• Red Hat launched the llm-d open source community, building on the vLLM and Inference Gateway open source projects, to pioneer new gen AI inference methods for greater scalability. The llm-d community accelerates distributed gen AI inference innovation via the open source ecosystem, with CoreWeave, Google Cloud, IBM Research and NVIDIA joining as founding contributors, and with AMD, Cisco, Hugging Face, Intel, Lambda and Mistral AI as partners.
• We showcased Model Context Protocol (MCP), which makes it possible to build agents using common open source standards and evolve existing applications into AI-capable apps without rewriting all of the code.
• We announced an expanded collaboration with NVIDIA. This integrates OpenShift AI with the NVIDIA Enterprise AI Factory validated design to facilitate the deployment of agentic AI systems across hybrid cloud environments, using the latest generation of NVIDIA accelerated compute technologies. The collaboration includes support for NVIDIA Blackwell architecture across Red Hat AI platforms and a reference architecture on OpenShift AI. OpenShift AI also integrates NVIDIA NIM microservices via its application catalog.
• Red Hat and Meta announced a collaboration to advance open source gen AI for the enterprise. This includes Day 0 support for Llama models on vLLM and Red Hat AI, Red Hat support for Llama Stack and validated Llama models for Red Hat AI.
• Red Hat and Google Cloud expanded our alliance to enterprise AI. This includes launching the llm-d open source project with Google as a founding contributor, enabling upstream support for vLLM on Google Cloud TPUs and GPUs, and providing Day 0 vLLM support for Gemma 3 models. We are bringing AI Inference Server to Google Cloud and collaborating on emerging AI agent frameworks like Agent2Agent.
• We introduced AI-powered support capabilities via the Red Hat Customer Portal’s new AI-powered assistant, Ask Red Hat. This gen AI assistant, built on an AI stack including Granite, Llama Stack and OpenShift AI, is integrated with our full knowledgebase and documentation library to help users find answers and solve problems more quickly. It launched with basic fluency in 12 languages.

Evolving the hybrid cloud’s foundation with Red Hat Enterprise Linux

We announced significant advancements to our flagship enterprise Linux platform, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), extending its role as the foundation for hybrid cloud and AI workloads.

• We unveiled Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 (RHEL 10), representing a major leap forward as an AI-driven, quantum-ready platform. Key new features include RHEL image mode for an immutable operating system, enabling a more consistent and robust approach to managing OS deployments by delivering RHEL as a bootable container image. It also pioneers NIST compliance for post-quantum cryptography, making RHEL the first enterprise Linux distribution to incorporate quantum-resistent algorithms. This helps protect against future “harvest now, decrypt later” attacks. RHEL 10 also introduces the RHEL extensions repository, offering access to new and innovative technologies.
• RHEL 10 launched with support from a broad array of partners collaborating to enhance its capabilities for hybrid cloud and AI. This includes collaboration with ecosystem partners on hardware certifications, optimized software stacks and cloud service integrations, aiming to deliver a robust and performant foundation for next-gen workloads.
• RHEL 10 introduces Red Hat Enterprise Linux Lightspeed, which integrates gen AI directly into the RHEL command line. This feature offers context-aware guidance and actionable recommendations through a natural language interface, assisting sysadmins with tasks from troubleshooting to scripting.
• We announced a collaboration with SiFive for a RISC-V Developer Preview for RHEL 10, expanding hardware architecture support.
• We highlighted new updates to RHEL Confidential Virtual Machines (CVMs), which offer hardware-level protection via memory encryption and secure execution environments to meet compliance needs. These advancements help protect data in use and sensitive workloads.
• We introduced the zero trust workload identity manager in technology preview. This aims to enhance security and access management for workloads by providing stronger non-human identity and access controls.
• We unveiled cloud-optimized RHEL images, designed to streamline operations and enhance performance in cloud environments. This includes RHEL for AWS, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure, providing enhanced security, responsiveness and flexibility for RHEL deployments in public clouds.
• We introduced the RHEL Security Select Add-On, a new offering that provides extended security updates and backports for critical and important Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) across the RHEL lifecycle, bolstering RHEL’s security and streamlining compliance for organizations with heightened security requirements.
• We announced the release of Red Hat Satellite 6.17. This version includes enhanced reporting capabilities, improved content management and deeper integration with Red Hat Insights, giving administrators better visibility and control over their RHEL deployments and other managed systems.

Empowering automation

Our announcements reinforced Red Hat’s leadership in IT automation, delivering solutions that bring efficiency and control to complex environments.

• We detailed the continued evolution of Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, showcasing how it empowers organizations to accelerate innovation and efficiency through advanced IT automation.
• We highlighted the integration of AI capabilities within our automation platforms, including the advancements in Red Hat Ansible Lightspeed with watsonx, which brings gen AI to IT automation. This helps automate complex tasks and streamline workflows through intelligent recommendations and content generation, helping users write Ansible Playbooks faster and more accurately.
• We discussed our continued collaboration with HashiCorp, focusing on our plans to enable customers to use Ansible Automation Platform and Terraform together. This allows users to combine Terraform for infrastructure provisioning with Ansible Automation Platform for configuration management and application deployment, providing comprehensive Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) capabilities across hybrid cloud environments.

Advancing open virtualization 

Red Hat continues to evolve its virtualization offerings, providing greater flexibility and unified management across hybrid cloud environments.

• Red Hat and AMD strengthened our strategic collaboration to expand customer choice for AI and virtualization across the hybrid cloud. This integrates Red Hat's open source platforms with AMD Instinct GPUs to work with OpenShift AI And testing Instinct MI300X GPUs running on RHEL AI within Microsoft Azure’s ND MI300X v5 VMs. Beyond AI, OpenShift Virtualization is validated for AMD EPYC processors, allowing organizations to manage VMs and containers from a single environment.
• We highlighted how Red Hat powers modern virtualization on Microsoft Azure, with Red Hat OpenShift on Azure enabling organizations to streamline the migration of VMs to a scalable, cloud-native platform. This helps address the need for security-enhanced computing foundations that adapt to evolving multi-infrastructure environments. Organizations can more effectively manage both VMs and containers together, accelerating their application modernization and cloud-native strategies in an Azure environment they already know. Enhancements include OpenShift 4.16 support, enterprise-grade cluster-wide proxy and Ddsv5 instance performance optimization. Managed identity for Azure Red Hat OpenShift is now in public preview.
• We showcased the capabilities of Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization on Google Cloud, which is now generally available. This enables users to run traditional VM-based workloads directly alongside containers on the same OpenShift clusters in Google Cloud, providing a unified platform for diverse application needs.
• We also highlighted collaborations with IBM and Arctera, enabling OpenShift Virtualization to work with existing enterprise storage systems, including those using Fibre Channel (FC) or Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) protocols. This helps bridge the gap between traditional storage and Kubernetes-native capabilities, making it easier for organizations to adopt OpenShift Virtualization with their existing storage investments.

Pioneering edge innovation

Red Hat continues to deliver solutions that bring intelligence closer to data, enhancing operations at the edge.

• We introduced Red Hat Edge Manager, a comprehensive fleet management solution for edge devices at scale. This new offering streamlines edge computing infrastructure and application management with end-to-end lifecycle capabilities, from security-hardened onboarding to decommissioning. It provides registration, provisioning, deployment, monitoring and OS/configuration updates across diverse edge deployments. Edge Manager helps users define and enforce a required state for their edge devices, reducing configuration drift and promoting uniformity.
• Our expanded edge portfolio helps organizations unlock intelligent operations by delivering critical expertise to offline environments. This includes our collaboration with ABB to extend process automation systems for industrial innovation, using Red Hat Device Edge and OpenShift with the RHEL real-time kernel for grid control systems.
• We also unveiled the Red Hat Offline Knowledge Portal, delivering critical expertise to offline environments for greater flexibility and access to information.

Shaping the future of software-defined vehicles

Red Hat made significant strides in the automotive industry, accelerating the development of software-defined vehicles.

• We announced the functional safety certification of Red Hat In-Vehicle Operating System as a Safety Element out-of-Context (SEooC) against the ISO 26262 Edition 2, 2018 - Level ASIL-B standard. Slated for availability in the next few months, Red Hat In-Vehicle OS meets stringent safety requirements for in-vehicle, operator-critical computer systems across applications like advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), digital cockpits and telematics. The first certification will be on the Renesas R-Car S4 platform, with a Qualcomm device to follow.
• We announced collaboration with a powerful ecosystem to drive open innovation in software-defined vehicles. This includes pre-qualifying the Red Hat In-Vehicle OS on platforms from leading automotive silicon providers such as Arm, Intel, NXP, Qualcomm, Renesas and Texas Instruments.

Expanding hybrid cloud collaborations and solutions

We reinforced our commitment to hybrid cloud innovation through several expanded industry partnerships and new solution offerings.

• We introduced the Red Hat Advanced Developer Suite, a comprehensive collection of developer tools and runtimes designed to accelerate application development across hybrid cloud environments. This suite includes enhanced capabilities for building, testing and deploying cloud-native applications, providing developers with a robust and integrated experience across the development lifecycle.
• Red Hat and Oracle announced an expanded collaboration to accelerate hybrid cloud transformation, providing enterprises with a consistent, cloud-native foundation for next-generation workloads. OpenShift is now certified on various Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) environments, including OCI Roving Edge Infrastructure, Oracle Compute Cloud@Customer and Oracle Private Cloud Appliance. This also extends support for OpenShift AI on OCI, including validation on OCI’s NVIDIA A100 and H100 GPU Shapes. We also announced that validation efforts are underway for Oracle Database on OpenShift Virtualization.
• We announced advancements to OpenShift ambient Service Mesh and a scalable GitOps control plane, further enhancing application connectivity and management within Kubernetes environments.
• We also highlighted how HashiCorp Vault and Red Hat OpenShift can work together to enhance security and secret management. 

Customer momentum

Our customers use Red Hat’s open hybrid cloud and AI platforms to drive innovation and achieve significant business outcomes.

• Red Hat empowers AI-driven enterprises: Several organizations are accelerating their AI and machine learning initiatives with Red Hat AI solutions. DenizBank is using OpenShift AI to transform into an AI-driven bank. Hitachi, Ltd. It is evolving its AI-driven enterprise initiatives with OpenShift AI. Turkish Airlines is pioneering AI-led innovation in aviation using OpenShift AI. The Government of Castilla-La Mancha uses Red Hat solutions to power public services with AI, improving environmental impact assessment processes by automating document reviews and using retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) to answer questions and summarize documents.
• ROSSMAN chose Red Hat OpenShift on Azure to power its agile hybrid cloud strategy, demonstrating the platform’s ability to support modern retail operations.
• TIVIT is using OpenShift Virtualization to build robust cloud solutions, showcasing the versatility of our virtualization offerings.
• Finis Terrae University chose OpenShift to modernize its IT infrastructure and support future innovation, facilitating their migration from physical servers to VMs and preparing for container-based workloads and AI-driven projects.
• Ensono is using Ansible Automation Platform to accelerate innovation and efficiency through advanced IT automation. 

Looking ahead

Mark your calendars! Red Hat Summit 2026 will take place from May 11-14, 2026, in Atlanta, GA.