<p>In the software-defined era, the hardware abstraction layer doesn't have to be a hypervisor. Sensing the winds of change, Red Hat is putting its weight behind an open-source Linux container engine called Docker.</p><p>Developed by dotCloud, Docker takes advantage of system-level functions to encapsulate any application and its dependencies as a lightweight container that can run on bare metal as seamlessly as it would in a virtualized, private cloud or public cloud environment. The main benefit of the technology is that it consumes considerably less resources than traditional virtualization frameworks such as VMware ESX and Citrix XenServer.</p><p>Red Hat announced this morning that has entered a strategic partnership with dotCloud to package Docker into its Linux lineup and make it more viable for mission-critical applications.</p><p>As part of the partnership, Docker will be made available for the Red Hat-sponsored Fedora OS and OpenShift, the company's Enterprise Linux-based platform-as-a-service offering. Additionally, the tool will be integrated with the open libvirt API to deliver advanced networking capabilities and the option to create subcontainers.</p><p><a href="http://siliconangle.com/blog/2013/09/19/red-hat-teams-up-with-dotcloud-to-promote-open-hyperviper-alternative/">Keep reading...</a></p>