Top 10 must-reads: Open source innovation at Red Hat

In the world of technology, progress is a constant. This month, we’re taking a look at the innovative minds and strategic moves behind some of our newest advancements. This roundup of recent blog posts covers everything from the people leading our charge in key global markets to the deep technical work that is making our products smarter, more security-focused, and ready for the future. Dive in to discover how we are working to solve today’s IT challenges and build the next generation of open source technology.  

1. Getting to know Navtez Singh Bal, Vice President & General Manager, India and South Asia

   Meet Navtez Singh Bal, the new vice president and general manager for Red Hat in India and South Asia. In this interview, he shares why he was drawn to our open source model and its role as a trusted partner to customers. Navtez outlines his focus on creating and executing tangible outcomes, particularly in India’s rapidly evolving digital and AI markets.

2. Introducing OpenShift Service Mesh 3.1

   Red Hat has released OpenShift Service Mesh 3.1, a key update based on the Istio, Envoy, and Kiali projects. This release advances our support for a modernized service mesh architecture by making Kubernetes Gateway API custom resource definitions (CRDs) available by default on OpenShift Container Platform 4.19 and later. The update also includes generally available dual-stack support for x86 clusters, a shift to UBI Micro containers to reduce the attack surface, and the continued development of Istio’s ambient mode, which is now a technology preview.

3. Elevate your Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops experience with Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization

   If your Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) is feeling held back by a legacy platform, a new solution is here. This post explains how you can now run Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops on Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization. This powerful combination allows you to modernize your VDI, unify your VM and container management, and gain the benefits of Kubernetes for greater automation and flexibility, all while your Citrix administrators continue to use their familiar tools.

4. Evolve your Citrix infrastructure: Unlocking agility and efficiency with Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization

   Are you looking to modernize your Citrix environment without disrupting existing workflows? This post introduces a new strategy: running Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops on Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization. The article highlights how this combination brings the power of a unified, Kubernetes-based platform to your VDI, enabling smarter scaling, streamlined management, and a streamlined path to the hybrid cloud—all while allowing your team to use the tools they already know. 

5. More than meets the eye: Behind the scenes of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10

   Go behind the scenes of a major product release in this new series, which explores the people and planning that brought Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 to life. In the first installment, hear directly from the engineering and product teams about the massive collaboration—spanning over 1,000 Red Hatters—that began right after the release of RHEL 9. This post offers a unique look at how our open source development model and deep integration with the Fedora community shape the future of enterprise Linux.

6. Zero trust starts here: Validated patterns for confidential container deployment

   Confidential computing is a crucial part of a zero trust security strategy, but getting started can be a challenge. This post introduces a new validated pattern to simplify the deployment of Confidential Containers (CoCo) on Red Hat OpenShift, specifically on Microsoft Azure. The article explores how this solution, which applies the Red Hat build of Trustee, helps users protect data in use and provides a consistent, declarative, and highly reproducible foundation for deploying applications with a strong security posture.

7. My experience with the Red Hat Academy Program

   Finding qualified tech talent is a persistent challenge for companies, but the Red Hat Academy Program offers a long-term solution. In this article, a Red Hat leader explains how the program helps build a robust knowledge base for students and universities while creating a valuable talent pipeline for Red Hat and its partners. He shares his personal insights on how this initiative provides a deep connection with passionate, future talent and helps foster a culture of open dialogue and mentorship. 

8. Red Hat named a Leader in 2025 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Container Management for the third consecutive year

   For the third consecutive year, Red Hat has been named a Leader in the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Container Management. This post highlights the significance of this recognition, continuing to validate the ability of Red Hat OpenShift to deliver a comprehensive application platform for modern workloads. The article details how our strategy—including investments in AI, container management, and hybrid cloud capabilities—is key to our strong position. 

9. MCP server development: Make agentic AI your API’s "customer zero"

   This blog post offers a look at a real-world technical experiment: integrating an AI-powered agent using the Model Context Protocol (MCP) with Red Hat Trusted Profile Analyzer. The author shares key engineering decisions and challenges, from choosing the right library to designing tools and parameters. The core idea? To treat the agentic AI as a “customer zero” to test and improve the quality of their API documentation, ensuring it is clear and usable for both machines and humans.

10. What’s new with Ansible Automation Platform content

    This article offers a concise roundup of the latest content updates for Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform. The article highlights new and enhanced Ansible Content Collections that are designed to help IT teams expand their automation use cases. It covers new certified content for AI infrastructure, network automation with Cisco and Juniper, and substantial updates to cloud support for Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Azure, as well as new Windows server management capabilities.

Beyond the roundup: Your next steps

As you can see, our focus remains on providing powerful, flexible, and powerful open source solutions that empower enterprises to innovate and succeed. From modernizing VDI and adopting zero trust security to building the next generation of enterprise Linux and AI, these stories reflect our dedication to helping you stay ahead. We’re committed to building on this momentum, reinforcing innovation, accessibility, and long-term reliability across the open source community.