Red Hat Summit 2025 Recap: From Red Carpet to Real Outcomes

Michael Hlasyszyn

Director of IT Automation & DevOps Solutions

Red Hat Summit 2025 felt different — and it started with the literal red carpet. Red Hat went all out to mark this year’s focus: AI in the enterprise. But not just flashy ideas. This was about how open-source tools like RHEL, OpenShift, and Ansible are making AI real, scalable, and secure.

I attended the Summit to see what this means for our customers and to bring back the conversations, technologies, and road maps shaping the next phase of enterprise IT.

Why Now? Because AI Can’t Wait

Red Hat made a bold claim: any model, any accelerator, any cloud.

From announcements like RHEL 10, which brings boot rollback, image-based updates, and post-quantum cryptography, to performance-focused enhancements in OpenShift virtualization and inference serving, the message was clear: the foundation for AI is open, flexible, and available now.

Virtualization, Modernization, and Cost Control

A big part of this year’s narrative was about virtualization at scale – especially for those looking to move on from legacy platforms like VMware. OpenShift’s virtualization engine is production ready. Red Hat’s Migration Toolkit for Virtualization (MTV) and tools like ACM and AAP are giving organizations control over how they modernize—on their terms.

For companies re-thinking their infrastructure strategy, especially considering licensing changes and cost increases, Red Hat’s approach felt refreshingly practical.

Automation: Real-World Impact

Ansible wasn’t just a highlight—it was a constant. Whether it was demos from Red Hat Labs or customer stories from banks and service providers, automation is clearly no longer just an ops function — it’s a strategic enabler.

We saw how Event-Driven Ansible is now certified to connect with tools like ServiceNow, enabling proactive, closed-loop IT operations. We heard from Barclays about how automation has become a cultural accelerant, and how organizations like PNC are enforcing secure, scalable practices through Infrastructure as Code.

This is the kind of work we do at F3 every day — and it was affirming to see that our automation-first mindset is now mainstream.

AI, Built for Operations

The most forward-looking content came in the form of Red Hat’s AI platform — with support for agentic AI, validated LLM templates, and deep integrations across OpenShift and RHEL.

We explored:

Inference infrastructure optimized for scale and cost
Hands-on labs showcasing LLM behavior tuning (think: temperature, max tokens, prompt design)
Red Hat’s focus on AI without friction, enabling operational teams to experiment, deploy, and iterate responsibly

These aren’t theoretical tools — their operational frameworks that align with how F3 helps clients bring AI into production workflows.

What This Means for Our Work

At F3, we’re already helping customers adopt these technologies, whether it’s modernizing their virtualization stack, building out automation pipelines, or preparing infrastructure for AI readiness.

Red Hat’s Summit reinforced that our approach—focused on flexibility, real-world results, and open platforms, isn’t just current, it’s exactly where the market is headed.

We’ll be sharing more in the coming weeks with our teams and clients, but the message is simple:
We’re here to help you make AI and automation real, practical, and valuable — starting now.