The 2024 Red Hat Summit in Denver was a whirlwind of innovation, collaboration, and networking. The show kicked off with a great turnout for the Community and Red Hat OpenShift Days. The focus here was on Case Studies from and by End Users with production deployments of OpenShift sharing their use cases, insights into their workloads and lessons learned along the way. Topics covered during this Gathering include hybrid cloud infrastructure, cloud-native development, and new Emerging technology initiatives. Panelists included M&T Bank, ENDB, Banco Sabadell, Garmin, Nvidia, UPS and
The overall theme of the show was Artificial Intelligence (AI) – the benefits of supercharging RHEL, OpenShift, and the expansion of Predictive and Generative AI with these platforms, etc. Attendees and virtual onlookers witnessed great demonstrations from people like Maria Bracho, Salley O’Malley, Sherard Griffin and Máirín Duffy that demonstrated how these technologies can have business impact.
More importantly, Dr. Ellen Grant, Director, Fetal Neonatal Neuroimaging and Developmental Science Center at Harvard University, discussed how AI used at Boston Children’s Hospital can accelerate a diagnosis and save an unborn child’s life. Reducing a process from hours and days to minutes. The discussion was powerful.
Beyond AI and all of its excitement at the Summit, there was a very strong underlying buzz about future proofing your organization with OpenShift-Virtualization as an alternative to legacy platforms. Discussions around migration from VMware quickly took shape in sessions, hallways and lunch tables…interesting times we are in.
A Gathering of Minds: Colleagues, Customers, and Partners
The summit served as a fantastic platform for meeting colleagues, prospects, customers, and partners. It was a collaborative and educational forum that fostered new friendships and strengthened existing relationships. From discussions on the adoption of AI to presentations and panels on “Elevating Red Hat’s Partner Ecosystem” to innovative ways of leveraging Ansible to the introduction of Red Hat OpenStack on Openshift (RHOSO), the exchange of ideas and experiences enriched the event, making it more than just a tech conference.
Red Hat’s Keynotes: AI Takes Center Stage
Red Hat made significant strides in AI with the unveiling of InstructLab and the open-sourcing of IBM Granite. InstructLab is an open-source project initiated by IBM and Red Hat. Per Red Hat, it aims to democratize generative AI through the power of an open-source community. It simplifies the LLM training phase through community skills and knowledge submissions. InstructLab leverages the LAB (Large-scale Alignment for chatBots) methodology to enable community-driven development and model evolution. This approach is designed to lower costs, remove barriers to testing and experimentation, and improve alignment—that is, ensuring the model’s answers are accurate, unbiased, and consistent with the values and goals of its users and creators. Summit attendees were welcomed to participate labs for some hands-on experiences!
In addition to InstructLab, Red Hat announced a developer preview of Red Hat Enterprise Linux AI (RHEL AI). RHEL AI is a foundation model platform to seamlessly develop, test, and run best-of-breed, open source Granite generative AI models to power enterprise applications. It is based on the InstructLab open source project and combines open source-licensed Granite large language models from IBM Research and InstructLab model alignment tools, based on the LAB (Large-scale Alignment for chatBots) methodology, in an optimized, bootable RHEL image to simplify server deployments.
Furthermore, Red Hat announced advances in Red Hat OpenShift AI, an open hybrid artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) platform built on Red Hat OpenShift. This platform enables enterprises to create and deliver AI-enabled applications at scale across hybrid clouds. These updates highlight Red Hat’s vision for AI, bringing Red Hat’s commitment to customer choice to the world of intelligent workloads, from the underlying hardware to the services and tools, such as Jupyter and PyTorch, used to build on the platform.
"He who shall not be named"
Red Hat stands at the precipice of a tremendous opportunity to offer an alternative virtualization platform for those in search of new avenues to manage their applications. While not openly promoted, the customer buzz suggests a keen interest in the migration of virtual machines and the pivotal role that Openshift-Virtualization can play for companies. This platform could serve as a game-changer, providing a robust, scalable, and efficient solution for managing applications. It’s an exciting time as we explore the potential of Openshift-Virtualization to revolutionize the way businesses operate, offering them the flexibility and control they need in today’s dynamic landscape. Furthermore, with rapid migration of these VM-based applications and the savings that come with this movement, customers can then choose to refactor or retire VMs at their own speeds – removing the added pressures of sizable renewals faced today. The future is open, and Red Hat is poised to lead the way.
Fun and Networking: Beyond the Tech Talks
The summit was not just about technology; it was also about having fun and networking. The AnsibleFest lounge provided a relaxed space for attendees to connect and unwind. Plus, attendees had the opportunity to enjoy pickleball courts, a puppy park in the exhibit hall, an oxygen bar, and exclusive access to local favorites Happy Camper, Avanti Food & Beverage, and Prost Biergarten at the Red Hat Summit Block Party. We definitely ate our fair share of pizza at the block party 🙂 Entertainment included music, coaster making where images were uploaded into a program and lasered into pieces of wood and mechanical bull riding!
Big Thank You’s!
We extend our deepest gratitude to the Red Hat Executive, Alliance, Sales, Marketing, Product and Engineering teams for their tireless efforts in fostering an inclusive environment. Your dedication has resulted in a platform brimming with cutting-edge demonstrations, insightful panels, and a celebration of freedom of expression. Your collective work has truly embodied the spirit of innovation and collaboration. In the words of the renowned anthropologist Margaret Mead, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” This quote perfectly encapsulates the power of community that you have demonstrated. Thank you for your exceptional contribution. We look forward to collaborating with you all and continuing to innovate and solve customer needs.
Next Stop, Orlando
2024 Red Hat Summit was a testament to the power of collaboration and innovation in the tech industry, with AI and OpenShift Virtualization taking center stage. The fun activities and networking opportunities added an extra layer of excitement, making it a truly memorable event.
As we reflect on the success of the 2024 Red Hat Summit, we eagerly look forward to next year’s Red Hat Summit and AnsibleFest in the Sunshine State – Orlando, FL (May 12-15, 2025), as Red Hat brings together thousands of customers, partners and technology industry leaders and open source community members from around the world for another high-energy week of innovation, education and collaboration.
Conclusion
We anticipate another exciting event filled with innovative discussions, networking opportunities, and the chance to meet new and familiar faces in the tech industry. If there is a topic that you would like us to present on next year let us know!
