Open source virtualisation technology would "deliver what proprietary products can't: open standards, true multi-vendor support and the ultimate in deployment and operational flexibility," said Paul Cormeir, president of products and technology at Red Hat in a statement.
The hypervisor will be support by the accompanying release of Red Hat Virtual Infrastructure Management, a console for managing virtual environments. Both the hypervisor and management console are currently in beta testing; a full release is pencilled in by the end of the year.
Red Hat also launched an open source initiative to advance the development of integrated security technologies for virtualised environments.