Red Hat has always prided itself as being an innovative company – we’ve been a catalyst for change for nearly every technology we’ve touched since our inception, from operating systems to virtualization and now the world of cloud computing.  While this innovative quality is nothing new to us, it’s always nice to be recognized, which is exactly what Forbes has done, naming Red Hat it’s 7th Most Innovative Growth Company for 2011.

To go even further, Investor’s Business Daily has also named Red Hat to its Top 10 New America, which recognizes companies with a "youthful drive and entrepreneurial spirit that can result in their becoming big market leaders."  Red Hat’s synopsis points to our commitment to providing cost-effective and open cloud computing solutions as a major driver in Red Hat’s selection, as well as the continued success of Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization.

Forbes’ listing of Red Hat points to CEO Jim Whitehurst as a driving factor of Red Hat’s innovation – it points out that Jim is balanced in his passion toward open source and his inclination toward execution or, as the article points out, he gives Red Hat the best chance to "become a shining star, not a falling one."

Congratulations to all who have helped propel Red Hat into leading the charge of innovation!