Red Hat: No need to choose between innovation and maintenance | ITPro

While the cost of doing business continues to soar, enterprises shouldn’t have to adopt an either or approach towards keeping the lights on and driving innovation. 

That was the message delivered by Open Source software giant Red Hat during the opening keynote of its Summit event in Boston today. 

President and CEO Matt Hicks used his introductory session to re-energize the assembled IT professional attendees,  acknowledging their key challenges and pain points and talking about how Red Hat has and is responding. 

“AI has moved from the obscurity of academia to the ubiquity of ChatGPT. But it’s also moved from the power of a few to the power of many,” he said. 

“We are watching the impact and potential of open source that played out all those years ago – with operating systems and programming languages – now playing out with AI. We’re watching creativity on a global scale make its way through AI to an open source revolution. It’s the time to dream about the potential for your business, your industry and to be the driver of change for the better.”

Many times in history, people have seen the potential of different technologies and acted on them, helping them become what they are today, according to Hicks. 

AI, in particular, he said has “moved from the obscurity of academia to the ubiquity of ChatGPT. It’s also moved from the power of a few to the power of many.”

While Hicks clearly sees much potential for enterprise good in AI, he was also keeping it real when highlighting the barriers businesses still face. 

“As excited as I am to be here on this stage in this moment, I also deeply appreciate the realities that can get in the way of realizing that journey. The realities that jolt us awake  and hold us back is what we are going to focus this year’s summit on: How to manage those realities. Because if we can manage the realities that we’re living in today, the potential of AI gives us the  license to dream,” he said. 

Hicks promised delegates that Red Hat would be making many announcements over the next few days as it continued to marry methodology and technology to help essentially turn company visions into realities. 

Some of the big unveils from today include:

“Today we’re going to focus on the reality of needing to do more with less. These challenges won’t be a surprise to you because you all are living them everyday,” Hicks added. 

“We’ll help you manage the pressure of making the most of what you have while at the same time cultivating the skills you need, and the pressure of finding new ways to deliver more, faster. 

“If there’s one thread to remember from today it’s that doing more with less doesn’t have to be a constraint. It’s a reality to manage today to unlock your innovation in this unique moment. Today, you manage your realities, tomorrow you’ll thrive with them.”