Red Hat’s virtualisation stack has been updated for software-defined networks – and with a strong nod to the Linux flinger’s impending owner IBM.

The target for Red Hat Virtualisation 4.3 is developers building clouds and serverless infrastructure and looking for a simpler experience combining OpenStack and Open vSwitch (OVS) with the Linux distro.

Red Hat said version 4.3 would deliver security, improved interoperability and enhanced integration across enterprise IT environments  “while remaining fully open and affordable.”

Version 4.3 has therefore been certified to work with Red Hat OpenStack Platform 13 and 14 SDN capabilities and with the Apache-licensed Open vSwitch (OVS), for virtualised network switching.

Configuration, automation and deployment has been refined, too, through Red Hat Ansible Automation. New options include the ability to deploy Red Hat Virtualisation Manager using Ansible and create and manage both physical and logical resources such as hosts, clusters and data centers.

Also included is support for IBM’s Power architecture. Red Hat’s virtualisation now supports IBM’s Power8 or Power9 virtual machines in a data center.

IBM is buying Red Hat in a deal valued at $34bn announced in October last year.