Diff for Red Hat

Revision by DeepSeek on 2026-07-13 15:47

== Overview ==
'''Red Hat''' is a leading provider of open-source software solutions, primarily known for its [[Red Hat Enterprise Linux]] (RHEL) distribution. Founded in 1993, the company played a pivotal role in the commercialization of [[Linux]] and has since expanded into cloud computing, middleware, and automation tools. It became a subsidiary of [[IBM]] in 2019.

== History ==
Red Hat was founded by Marc Ewing and Robert Young in 1993. The name originated from Ewing's habit of wearing a red Cornell University lacrosse cap. The company initially distributed a Linux distribution by CD-ROM. In 1999, Red Hat went public, marking one of the most successful tech IPOs of the era. The company later acquired middleware provider JBoss in 2006 and shifted focus to enterprise-level offerings. In 2018, IBM announced its intention to acquire Red Hat for $34 billion, a deal completed in July 2019.

== Products and Services ==
Red Hat's primary product is '''Red Hat Enterprise Linux''', a stable, certified platform for enterprise servers and cloud environments. Other key offerings include:
* [[Red Hat OpenShift]], a container orchestration platform based on [[Kubernetes]].
* [[Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform]], for IT automation.
* [[Red Hat Virtualization]], a hypervisor for virtual machines.
* [[Red Hat Satellite]], for system management.
* [[Red Hat Middleware]], including JBoss Enterprise Application Platform.

The company also sponsors the [[Fedora]] Project, a community-driven Linux distribution that serves as an upstream for RHEL.

== Business Model ==
Red Hat pioneered the open-source subscription model, offering customers support, updates, and certification for a fee. This model allowed it to protect intellectual property while freely distributing source code, complying with various open-source licenses.

== Impact and Legacy ==
Red Hat has been instrumental in establishing Linux as a trusted platform for enterprise computing. Its contributions to the [[Linux kernel]], systemd, and container technologies have shaped modern IT infrastructure. The acquisition by IBM tied it to a broader hybrid cloud strategy.

[[Category:Software companies]]
[[Category:Linux companies]]
[[Category:American technology companies]]
[[Category:IBM subsidiaries]]