RHEL 7, which is expected to be released in the first quarter of 2014, is based on Red Hat's community Linux, Fedora 19. For its Linux heart, however, it will be using the upstream Linux 3.10 kernel.

In an interview with ETCIO.COM, James Whitehurst, President & CEO, Red Hat outlined the increasing relevance of open source in the cloud era and the value proposition Red Hat provides its customers.