Red Hat has bought itself a Christmas present \u2013 privately held ManageIQ.
\nIt\u2019s paying $104 million in folding money for the pleasure of what appears to be a made-to-measure glove. The two seem to be a perfect fit. The deal might close by the end of the year.
\nRed Hat approached the six-year-old UK-based start-up around September when ManageIQ, already a Red Hat partner, was starting to look around for more money to finance a deeper plunge into the channel.
\nManageIO says it\u2019s \u201cchannel-ready\u201d now and eager to get out there and mix it up.
\nIt brings Red Hat the real-time cloud management and automation it lacks. It\u2019s in the center of Red Hat\u2019s three hot buttons: Red Hat\u2019s KVM Enterprise Virtualization, CloudForms, Red Hat\u2019s hybrid IaaS solution, and OpenStack. It\u2019s got a hybrid cloud bias, which should suit Red Hat to a \u201cT,\u201d since it\u2019s bet the farm on hybrid. And it says it can set up its tent in an enterprise and help coax the user off Red Hat\u2019s hereditary enemy VMware and on to Red Hat\u2019s cheaper alternative.<\/p>\n