One of the great benefits of using open source software is the flexibility that it offers to developers and organizations to use various open source technologies, complementary components, many options to integrate with other software, and above all, independence from vendors. It offers freedom from being locked into a specific proprietary vendor’s technology, support, and contract. 

That said, the typical enterprise organization is using many pieces of open source software within their stack, each with varying support needs. For some organizations, that means managing different support vendors for each piece of open source software and, ultimately, managing the costs and challenges of working with those vendors.

In this blog, we look at the modern realities of using open source in the enterprise, why open source vendor consolidation is important, and how shifting to a vendor-neutral technical support strategy can reduce the complexity of infrastructure maintenance.  

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Strategic Open Source Adoption

At its core, OSS refers to software whose source code is openly available for modification, enhancement, and redistribution.

This transparency enables rapid innovation, security validation, and collaborative development. Many OSS projects operate under copyleft licenses, which require modifications to be distributed under the same terms — an important consideration for companies navigating commercial vs. community open source models.  

Major corporations such as Google, Microsoft, Apple, Meta, and IBM are using OSS, as well as as contributing to certain key projects. These investments often align with initiatives like ecosystem expansion, developer engagement, and shared infrastructure strategies.  

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Open Source as a Business 

Cloudera, Confluent, Databricks, and MongoDB are prime examples of companies that have successfully commercialized OSS using two distinct business models: Software as a Service (SaaS) and Open Core Software. Both of these approaches can be combined or augmented with professional services and technical support. 

Software as a Service

The software-as-a-service (SaaS) business model involves open source software that is hosted, maintained, and easily available for consumption. Users of open source software under this model do not have to worry about installations, deployments, and infrastructure issues.

Open Core Software

The second category refers to what is called open core software, where vendors add proprietary features or tools to open source software (often geared toward enterprise use cases) and sell it via subscription, often with premium support included.

Why do organizations opt to pay for commercial versions of open source technologies they could deploy for free? We asked about this in the most recent State of Open Source Report, and the top response was “professional support and maintenance” (44%) followed by “additional features” (25%). 

With both of these models, there are two common pitfalls that organizations should be aware of: juggling too many vendors (and support contracts) and vendor lock-in. Avoiding vendor-lock in was the second most cited reason for choosing OSS in the State of Open Source Report, so organizations seem to already be aware of that risk. Vendor sprawl, though, can present just as many challenges. 

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The Problem of Vendor Sprawl

As we have seen with all types of technology over the years, there are periods of expansion and there are periods of consolidation. Open source software is well into an expansion phase and every day there are more open source projects — just look at the CNCF cloud-native and the AI & Data Foundation landscapes for a small sample. 

A byproduct of this is that organizations are using more open source software and, consequently, contracting with more commercial open source vendors. The most recent State of Open Source Report found that about a third (32%) of large enterprises (>5K employees) work with more than 10 vendors to support their open source, and a little over a quarter (27%) work with 20+ vendors. That’s a lot of different vendors to manage and can lead to finger-pointing when something goes wrong, delaying resolution. 

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The Benefits of Open Source Vendor Consolidation 

As part of moving toward a more mature open source strategy, CIOs, CISOs, and IT executives would be wise to pursue vendor consolidation initiatives — something that benefited the largest software companies 10 or 20 years ago (e.g., consolidation into all Microsoft, or Oracle, or IBM software products).  

The benefits of vendor consolidation include:

• Reduced Costs: Fewer vendors, streamlined processes, and optimized resource allocation can lead to significant cost savings.
• Improved Efficiency: Consolidation simplifies workflows, reduces complexity, and allows teams to focus on core tasks rather than managing disparate tools and processes.
• Enhanced Security: A more centralized approach to security management can improve vulnerability detection, response, and overall security posture.
• Better Collaboration: Consolidation can break down silos between teams and departments, facilitating better communication and collaboration.
• Simplified Operations: A unified platform or streamlined processes can make it easier to manage and maintain open source software. 

Now the question becomes, how can organizations consolidate open source vendors and get the best technical support for the OSS inside their mission-critical applications? (Hint: it’s also how they can avoid vendor lock-in.)

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Making the Shift to a Vendor-Neutral OSS Support Provider

A key reason to go with commercial versions of open source software is access to technical support — to have someone to contact when something goes wrong or is not working properly. But what if you could get SLA-backed support that was not attached to a commercial vendor?  

That’s where independent, vendor-neutral technical support for open source software comes in, as a viable alternative to commercial support that is tied to proprietary platforms. As an example, today’s container and container orchestration technologies (mainly Kubernetes) are being deployed in production environments all over the world with or without commercial support. 

An increasing number of organizations are discovering that it’s possible to skip commercial and open core solutions from companies like Cloudera and Confluent altogether and use only versions from the open source community, paired with support from third parties like OpenLogic. 

Vendor-neutral technical support requires technical expertise, not just for troubleshooting issues, but also to provide expert advice on architecture, configuration, and scalability of production environments. Assistance on how to use open source software at scale and how to integrate different technology stacks becomes very important. The bottom line is, if organizations need technical support for their open source, they no longer have to lock-in with multiple vendors and deploy commercial solutions; they can consolidate support for their entire OSS stack with one vendor-neutral provider.

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Final Thoughts

Vendor consolidation for open source support also brings another great benefit — the ability to investigate issues across multiple open source technologies. A business can troubleshoot across the software stack without the complexity of talking to multiple vendors that will only support their corresponding piece of functionality and point fingers at each other. 

As mentioned in the previous section, another trend we’re seeing related to vendor consolidation is more and more organizations migrating off of commercial and open core solutions and deploying 100% open source alternatives. The money they save by not paying for commercial licenses can then be reallocated to other infrastructure investments. For these companies, getting unbiased guidance while receiving the same level of support they are used to is crucial to not disrupting business operations.   

RHEL 10 was designed to address the most pressing challenges in modern IT infrastructure, positioning itself as the definitive operating system for organizations navigating digital transformation, hybrid cloud adoption, and increasingly complex security landscapes.

In this blog, we’ll explore the new features in RHEL 10 and explain how it compares to RHEL 9. We’ll also consider its value within the broader Enterprise Linux ecosystem of RHEL derivatives, to help organizations determine if a RHEL subscription is still worth the investment. 

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About the RHEL 10 Release

RHEL 10 was released on May 20, 2025 and goes by the code name “Coughlan” like the upstream CentOS Stream 10 release which came out in December 2024. RHEL 10 is based on Fedora 40 and will be supported until 2035. 

RHEL 10 is focused on three core pillars: enhanced security, cloud-native optimization, and AI-powered automation. The release targets a diverse range of enterprise applications, including containerized workloads, hybrid cloud operations, and Dev Ops workflows, to support organizations transitioning toward more agile, secure, and scalable infrastructure models.

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RHEL 10 Features and Updates

For a complete list of new RHEL 10 features, as well as removed ones, refer to the official release notes. In this section, we will highlight the most impactful changes.

Security Enhancements

• Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) Integration represents perhaps the most significant security advancement. This FIPS-compliant implementation defends against sophisticated “harvest now, decrypt later” attacks, where adversaries collect encrypted data today with the intention of decrypting it using future quantum computing capabilities. Organizations handling sensitive data or operating in regulated industries will find this protection essential for long-term data security.
• Improved SELinux delivers enhanced flexibility and usability without compromising security. The updated implementation offers more intuitive configuration options, enhanced auditing capabilities, and improved troubleshooting tools, making it easier for system administrators to implement and maintain robust access controls.
• Encrypted DNS integration includes both DNS over HTTPS (DoH) and DNS over TLS (DoT) protocols, protecting DNS queries from interception and manipulation. This capability becomes increasingly critical as organizations implement zero-trust security models.
   

NEW: CIS-Benchmarked Hardened Images 

OpenLogic now provides Rocky Linux and AlmaLinux images hardened according to CIS Benchmarks (Level 2) for VMs and containers, making it easier than ever to meet compliance requirements. 

Explore Hardened ImagesSee Latest Releases

Performance and Hardware Upgrades

• The updated Linux Kernel 6.12.0 provides foundational performance improvements and expanded hardware compatibility. This kernel update ensures optimal performance on the latest server hardware while maintaining stability across diverse infrastructure environments.
• Support for New Hardware includes comprehensive compatibility with next-generation processors, storage systems, and networking equipment. This expanded support ensures organizations can leverage cutting-edge hardware while maintaining their existing RHEL environment.

Cloud Integration and Hybrid Cloud Support

• Image Mode for RHEL (bootc) revolutionizes deployment flexibility by enabling OS deployment as a container image directly to hardware, virtual machines, or cloud environments. This container-native approach streamlines deployment processes and enhances consistency across diverse infrastructure platforms.
• Enhanced Compatibility with Major Cloud Providers delivers deeper integration with AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform. These optimizations reduce deployment complexity and improve performance when running RHEL workloads in public cloud environments.
• Optimized for OpenShift improves integration with Red Hat OpenShift, enabling more efficient container orchestration and management. Organizations leveraging Kubernetes will benefit from enhanced performance and simplified operations.

Developer Tools and System Administration Improvements

• Updated Application Streams include newer versions of essential programming languages: Python 3.12, Perl 5.40, Go 1.23, and GCC 14.2. These updates ensure developers have access to the latest language features and performance improvements.
• RHEL Lightspeed integrates generative AI directly into the platform, offering context-aware guidance for system administration tasks. This AI-powered assistance reduces the learning curve for complex administrative operations and improves operational efficiency.
• Expanded Ansible System Roles automate configuration management, application deployment, and infrastructure provisioning across diverse environments. These roles significantly reduce manual administrative overhead while ensuring consistent configurations.
• Improved Podman and Buildah Support streamlines building, testing, and deploying containerized applications.

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Comparing RHEL 10 vs. RHEL 9

The transition from RHEL 9 to RHEL 10 introduces several fundamental changes that will impact user experience and operational capabilities. 

The most significant architectural change involves dropping x86-64-v2 support in favor of x86-64-v3 baseline requirements. This change improves performance on modern hardware but may impact organizations running older infrastructure. 

The shift toward AI integration and container-native operations reflects Red Hat’s strategic focus on emerging technologies and modern deployment patterns. Organizations planning upgrades should evaluate their current infrastructure compatibility and strategic technology direction.
 

Get the Decision Maker’s Guide to Enterprise Linux

Compare security, stability, features, and use cases for commercial Enterprise Linux distributions like RHEL, Oracle Linux, and SUSE Linux Enterprise (SLE) and open source alternatives like CentOS Stream, Debian, Ubuntu, Rocky Linux and AlmaLinux in our free guide.

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RHEL Derivatives Ecosystem: Rocky Linux 10 and AlmaLinux 10

Both AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux continue building their distributions using CentOS Stream as their primary upstream source, supplemented by publicly available resources and RHEL sources obtained through Red Hat’s licensing framework.

These distributions maintain Application Binary Interface (ABI) compatibility with RHEL 10, ensuring applications compiled for RHEL 10 will execute seamlessly on AlmaLinux 10 and Rocky Linux 10 without modification. This compatibility provides organizations with deployment flexibility while maintaining application integrity.

AlmaLinux 10 (codename “Purple Lion”) was released on May 27 (one week after RHEL 10) and offers a unique advantage through its continued support for x86-64-v2 architecture, making it viable for organizations with older hardware that cannot meet RHEL 10’s x86-64-v3 requirements. This capability extends infrastructure lifespan and reduces hardware replacement costs.

Rocky Linux 10 (codename “Red Quartz”) came out on June 11 and includes support for RISC-V computers. 

Both distributions benefit from active community ecosystems and third-party commercial support options, often at significantly lower costs.

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Is RHEL Still Worth the Cost?

Weighing RHEL’s value proposition requires balancing comprehensive enterprise capabilities against significant licensing costs and vendor lock-in risk.

RHEL Advantages

• Enterprise-Grade Stability and Reliability: Rigorous testing and quality assurance processes guarantee a stable platform for mission-critical workloads.
• Predictable Lifecycle: Each major RHEL release is supported for 10 years, which means extended availability of security fixes and patches.
• Support: RHEL subscriptions comes with 24/7 technical support with SLAs, which is invaluable during critical incidents or for complex deployments.
• Security and Compliance: RHEL is consistently updated with the latest security patches, including proactive vulnerability remediation. Organizations in regulated industries particularly benefit from RHEL’s comprehensive certifications that ensure security and compatibility with various other solutions.
• Integrated Ecosystem: RHEL subscriptions often include access to other Red Hat tools for lifecycle management, analytics, and automation that your organization might also want to utilize.  

RHEL Derivatives Benefits

• No License Costs: This is by far the most compelling differentiator because it eliminates a substantial line item from IT budgets, freeing up resources for other projects and investments.
• Freedom and Flexibility: By using RHEL derivatives, organizations can avoid getting locked into the RHEL ecosystem of products and retain greater control over their infrastructure.
• Binary Compatibility: Applications designed for RHEL 10 should be able to run without modification.
• Community and Third-Party Support: Rocky Linux and AlmaLinux have very active communities and good documentation, and commercial support vendors like OpenLogic can provide expert, 24/7 SLA-backed Enterprise Linux support for less than the cost of a RHEL subscription.
• Niche Use Cases: AlmaLinux 10’s continued support for x86-64-v2 makes it a more viable option for organizations that cannot meet RHEL 10’s x86-64-v3 baseline and want to defer hardware replacement costs.

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Final Thoughts

With its advanced security capabilities, AI-powered administration, and comprehensive cloud integration, RHEL 10 and its derivatives set a new benchmark for Enterprise Linux distributions. The choice ultimately depends on organizational priorities: Enterprises requiring extensive certifications and preferring integrated management tools may find the ROI for RHEL worthwhile. Organizations prioritizing cost optimization and operational flexibility may find Rocky Linux 10 or AlmaLinux 10 more attractive, particularly when combined with third-party commercial support.

Many organizations struggle to implement consistent security configurations across their Linux infrastructure. CIS Benchmarks provide a proven framework for Linux hardening, offering industry-recognized security standards that reduce attack surfaces and ensure compliance. However, manually applying these controls can be time-consuming and resource-draining, especially as businesses scale. 

That’s where hardened images come in — enabling organizations to shift-left by integrating proven security standards into the earliest stages of deployment. Using Linux images that have already been hardened according to CIS Benchmarks can provide a secure, consistent baseline while avoiding the costs and lock-in of commercial distributions like RHEL. In this blog, we’ll explain how CIS-Benchmarked hardened images offer a simplified, scalable approach Linux security in enterprise environments.

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What Are CIS Benchmarks and Why Are They Essential?

CIS Benchmarks are consensus-based security configuration guidelines developed by the Center for Internet Security. These comprehensive standards provide detailed recommendations for securing operating systems, applications, and cloud services through systematic configuration controls.

CIS Benchmarks address the most common security vulnerabilities that arise from system misconfigurations. Each benchmark undergoes rigorous testing and validation by a global community of cybersecurity professionals, ensuring recommendations reflect current threat landscapes and proven security best practices.

CIS Benchmarks serve multiple critical functions:

Attack Surface Reduction: The benchmarks systematically disable unnecessary services, remove default accounts, and implement restrictive permissions that minimize potential entry points for attackers.

Configuration Consistency: Applying CIS Benchmarks via hardened images promotes immutable infrastructure, minimizing the risk of configuration drift and manual misconfigurations.

Vulnerability Prevention: By addressing common misconfigurations such as weak SSH settings, improper file permissions, and enabled unused services, the benchmarks prevent many common attacks.

Compliance and Regulatory Alignment

CIS Benchmarks align with major compliance frameworks including NIST Cybersecurity Framework, HIPAA, PCI-DSS, and ISO 27000 series. This alignment enables organizations to satisfy multiple regulatory requirements simultaneously while demonstrating due diligence in security practices.

Security auditors recognize CIS Benchmarks as industry best practices, making compliance validation more straightforward. Organizations using CIS-compliant systems can more easily pass audits and maintain regulatory certifications.

Community-Driven Updates

The global cybersecurity community continuously updates CIS Benchmarks to address emerging threats and new operating system versions. This collaborative approach ensures the benchmarks remain relevant and effective against evolving security challenges.

Regular updates are particularly critical for newer Linux distributions and versions, where security configurations must adapt to new features and potential vulnerabilities.

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The Role of Hardened Images

Hardened images are pre-configured VM or container images that incorporate security controls based on established standards like the CIS Benchmarks. These images provide a secure foundation for Linux deployments, eliminating the need for post-installation security configuration.

Each hardened image undergoes rigorous testing against specific benchmark profiles, including Level 1 (essential security measures) and Level 2 (enhanced security for high-risk environments). Images are also validated for different deployment scenarios, such as server or workstation configurations.

Who Benefits From Hardened Images?

• DevOps teams who can incorporate security into CI/CD pipelines
• Security leaders who can minimize audit risks and enhance security posture
• Cloud architects who can expand securely across cloud environments

Implementation Across Environments

Organizations deploy hardened images as base templates for:

Production Servers: Ensuring all production Linux instances inherit consistent security configurations from deployment

Development Environments: Providing secure baseline configurations that prevent security drift during development cycles

Cloud Instances: Enabling rapid scaling of secure infrastructure across public, private, and hybrid cloud environments

DevOps Integration

Hardened images integrate seamlessly into CI/CD pipelines, where infrastructure security must be version-controlled and repeatable. This integration embeds compliance and hardening into infrastructure-as-code workflows and guarantees that security configurations remain consistent across development, testing, and production environments. This ensures that every new environment is secure from the start — not just after deployment. 

The use of hardened images reduces configuration drift, or the gradual degradation of security settings that occurs when systems are manually modified over time. This consistency also improves auditability and reduces the risk of security gaps in production environments.

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Benefits of Using CIS-Benchmarked Hardened Images

In this section, we’ll highlight the biggest advantages that come with having access to CIS-Benchmarked hardened images.

Enhanced Security Assurance

CIS-Benchmarked hardened images help eliminate common vulnerabilities present in default Linux installations. These images address critical security areas including SSH configuration hardening, restrictive file permissions, removal of unnecessary packages, and proper user account management.

Organizations can significantly reduce their risk to attacks that exploit default configurations, weak permissions, and enabled but unused services. The systematic application of CIS controls creates multiple layers of security that protect against both automated attacks and targeted intrusions.

Operational Efficiency and Time Savings

Manual Linux hardening typically requires days or weeks of specialized security expertise for each deployment. Hardened images eliminate this overhead and remove the guesswork by providing pre-configured, tested configurations and settings that are known to meet the highest security standards. 

This allows Linux system administrators to focus on application deployment and business functionality instead of security configuration tasks. OpenLogic’s hardened images, for example, deliver zero-touch hardening, eliminating the need for post-deployments scripts or manual compliance tuning. This efficiency becomes particularly valuable in large-scale environments with hundreds or thousands of servers.

Compliance Readiness

CIS Benchmarks map directly to major compliance frameworks, making hardened images valuable tools for compliance. Organizations can demonstrate proactive security practices and streamline audit preparation by deploying systems that meet established security standards from the start.

The use of recognized security benchmarks provides auditors with clear evidence of due diligence in security practices. This approach can streamline compliance validation while improving overall security posture.

Consistency Across Environments

Uniform security settings across all Linux deployments eliminate the security gaps that arise from inconsistent manual configurations. This standardization is particularly critical for organizations managing hybrid or multi-cloud environments where different teams might otherwise apply different security standards.

Scalability Without Security Compromise

As organizations scale, hardened Linux images ensure that security standards scale automatically as well. Each new deployment inherits the same security baseline, preventing the security regression that can occur when rapid scaling prioritizes speed over security.

Multiple teams and projects can use the same hardened base images, ensuring consistent security standards across the organization without requiring specialized security expertise in each team. Hardening at scale becomes achievable, with secure deployments across thousands of nodes without the manual overhead.

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Final Thoughts

Rather than treating security as a post-deployment task, CIS-Benchmarked Linux images allow organizations to shift-left by implementing hardening from the beginning of the deployment lifecycle. Hopefully the benefits of this strategy are now clear: reduced time to deployment, consistency across environments, streamlined compliance, and improved security, not to mention operational efficiency. Organizations can secure enterprise workloads on the Linux distribution of their choice without the burden of manual hardening processes or the cost of a RHEL subscription. 

Apache Kafka is a powerful stream processing application that can be found at the heart of the largest data warehouses around the world. Responsible for the heavy lifting from data sources to data sinks, Apache Kafka is capable processing millions of records or message per second while still maintaining sub-second end-to-end latency. However, this is only possible if we keep our Apache Kafka Clusters along with their consumers and produce secured. 

In this post we will discuss some standard Apache Kafka security best practices to help us do exactly that, including recommendations for authentication, encryption, updates, access control lists, and more.

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Getting Started with Apache Kafka

Some of the information discussed in this blog does have some prerequisite concepts that will be helpful for the reader to be familiar with. Understanding basic Kafka concepts such as topics, partitions, and consumer groups will be very handy. I recommend visiting our Enterprise Kafka Resources hub, downloading The Decision Maker’s Guide to Apache Kafka, or watching the video below that covers some basic tips for configuring and testing your deployments.  

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8 Kafka Security Best Practices

“Out of the box” default configurations are great for prototyping and proof-of-concept designs, but to really unleash the performance and reliability of Kafka, it must be properly secured.

We all know the easiest way to stand up any enterprise resource is to just run with its default configuration. Or, maybe bypassing encryption like TLS, or skipping hardening processes like SELinux. But if we can’t guarantee the integrity of our services, then we cannot provide the reliability of services and accuracy of data required for enterprise operations.

With that in mind, here are a few elemental Apache Kafka security best practices your organization should be applying in your Kafka environments.

2024 marked a tumultuous year in the world of enterprise Linux distributions. CentOS end of life (EOL) officially arrived in June 2024, marking a pivotal shift for enterprise Linux users. Many migrated to community-supported alternatives (such AlmaLinux and Rocky Linux) which expanded compatibility and cloud support to entice displaced users. Meanwhile, Ubuntu and other major distros continued to roll out new versions and improved hardware support, working to make themselves an attractive destination for those still deploying CentOS. 

Given that we are now a year out from CentOS EOL, we were especially interested to examine the 2025 ecosystem to see which enterprise Linux distributions would come out ahead in the State of Open Source Report. Read on to find out which distros grew vs. declined in usage compared to the previous year and what the data suggests about Linux adoption trends in a post-CentOS world.

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2025’s Top Enterprise Linux Distributions

In our global survey, we asked respondents to tell us which open source Linux distributions their organizations use, with the understanding that many use more than one. Here’s the breakdown followed by some key takeaways:

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Ubuntu Continues as the Top Enterprise Linux Distribution

Similar to previous years’ findings, Ubuntu is the most used enterprise Linux distribution. This remains true regardless of company size and in all regions except Asia, where CentOS is the top distribution (and Ubuntu is tied for second place with Fedora). When segmenting by industry, we found that Ubuntu is also dominant in every sector except for in the banking/finance vertical, where RHEL is more popular, followed by CentOS, and Ubuntu is third.

We suspect that Ubuntu’s continued dominance comes from organizations preferring a stable Linux distribution with strong community support, predictable release schedules, and 5-year term support, which enables future planning.

SLA-Backed Technical Support for Ubuntu

While Ubuntu remains a free open source project, vendors like OpenLogic offer enterprise-grade 24/7 technical support without the need to purchase a commercial version of Ubuntu and software license.

Ubuntu Support Starts Here

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A Snapshot of CentOS Usage Post-EOL

CentOS reaching EOL in June 2024 was a major event in the Enterprise Linux world, and we were curious to see how usage would be impacted. Here’s what we found:

• CentOS is still the third most used distribution overall — with a nearly identical percentage to 2024.
• 40% of the largest enterprises remain on CentOS.
• While CentOS usage declined in North America and Europe in the past year, other parts of the world (particularly Asia and Latin America) have been slower to migrate to a new distro.

On-Demand Webinar: The State of Open Source in 2025

Discover the latest trends and insights shaping the future of open source in 2025 with our expert-led, on-demand webinar. Watch now to stay ahead in the ever-evolving, post-CentOS landscape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How Teams Plan to Tackle Newly Discovered CentOS CVEs

We began our follow-up questions by asking survey participants about how they plan to address newly disclosed CentOS vulnerabilities (CVEs).

A CVE impacting your operating system has the potential to cause massive problems and presents significant risk, so it is especially worrisome to see that 38% of survey participants don’t plan to address new CentOS CVEs. When we segment by company size, that number jumps to 38% for the largest enterprises.

While those large enterprise organizations are the most likely to have an LTS vendor, we found that only 25% of them do. Fortunately, only about 11% are taking a head-in-the-sand approach by not scanning or patching CVEs, putting their infrastructure at risk.

Still, we can’t help but wish that number would fall to zero.

The Top Challenge in Managing EOL CentOS Servers

We asked those who were still deploying CentOS at the time of survey about their largest challenges in managing their servers post-EOL. A clear frontrunner quickly emerged.

Unsurprisingly, security patches was the top answer, with more than half of participants citing it. This makes sense in light of the fact that only 13% can patch in-house, and only 19% have an LTS provider to provide ongoing patches. After all, security patch management for users of LTS distributions includes staying on top of what patches have been released, as well as having a deployment plan that includes rollback.

Protect Your Infrastructure With CentOS LTS

Complex enterprise migrations don’t happen overnight or without careful planning. By partnering with OpenLogic, you can extend your CentOS 7 runway until 2029, stay secure and compliant, and much more.

CentOS LTS Options  About CentOS EOL

Ubuntu is the #1 Migration Destination for CentOS Users

Next, we asked survey participants about where they intend to migrate, now that all CentOS versions have reached end of life.

Again, Ubuntu emerged as the top pick everywhere except in Europe, where 27% of respondents answered “I don’t know,” compared to 18% who selected Ubuntu. While 15% overall said “I don’t know,” interestingly 25% of the largest enterprises gave that response.

But Migrations From CentOS Are Not Without Difficulties

We next examined enterprise Linux users who did successfully complete a migration, asking them to identify how long they estimated that their migration off CentOS would take.

As one might expect, the estimated timelines correlated to company size. Bigger companies, who are likely to have thousands of servers, expected their migrations to take longer.

Anecdotally, we are hearing from our CentOS LTS customers that migrations are proving more complex and taking more time than anticipated, including for smaller businesses with a lower number of servers.

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Final Thoughts

There’s no question that Linux is the key open source technology that drives the technology landscape; it’s the preferred choice for organizations ranging from small startups to Fortune 500 enterprises. Whether deployed on-premises or in the cloud, Linux powers virtual machines, containers, and serverless architectures. We can see in the horizon that most new technologies — from hardware and IoT to AI and ML — will continue to be based on the Linux operating system. 

With CentOS now firmly EOL, and with enterprise Linux distributions continuing to prioritize LTS, it will be interesting to see what trends emerge in the coming year.  It’s clear that active open source communities and sponsors play a crucial role in shaping the future landscape of Linux choices. With that in mind, we are looking forward to potentially more changes in the Linux space in the coming months, and what next year’s State of Open Source Report will reveal. 

Perfecto AI, powered by Perforce Intelligence, delivers up to 70% efficiency gains with zero scripts, frameworks, or maintenance.

MINNEAPOLIS, July 15, 2025 — Perforce Software, the DevOps company for global teams seeking AI innovation at scale, launched a breakthrough in agentic AI testing with the ability to turn plain language inputs into resilient, execution-ready test actions. With one input, users can now validate applications across web, Android, and iOS—without object locators, code, or maintenance. The patent-pending intelligent model, available within Perfecto’s existing mobile testing platform, adapts in real time to UI changes, failures, and evolving user flows without the brittleness of traditional test logic. Perforce customers are seeing 50–70% efficiency gains across test creation, stabilization, and triage.

“We’ve seen significant progress in our test coverage to date. Perfecto AI is highly beneficial, particularly with the introduction of new capabilities that enable us to cover both web and mobile apps. The navigation tool feature will further reduce the development time for our automation and is expected to enhance the long-term maintainability of our test suite.” – Matt Hatherly, Engineering Lead – Automation & NFT, ASDA.

Solving the Real Testing Problem—Not Just Replacing Scripts

Testing continues to be a main blocker in DevOps and the automation of application delivery. Siloed tools, flaky tests, UI instability, test data bottlenecks, and triage delays create unsustainable costs and inefficiencies. Many testing companies have turned to AI copilots, which generate scripts based on prompts. But those scripts still require frameworks, setup, and constant maintenance—often amplifying the very maintenance burden teams are trying to eliminate. Taking out the maintenance in testing opens teams up to deliver applications much faster with better customer experiences.

“Perforce Intelligence is transforming how enterprises approach quality,” said Stephen Feloney, VP of Product Management at Perforce. “With this release, you can create a test before any code is written—true Test-Driven Development (TDD)—contextual validation of dynamic content like charts and images, and triage failures in real time—without the legacy baggage of scripts and frameworks. Unlike AI copilots that simply generate scripts tied to fragile frameworks, Perforce Intelligence eliminates scripts entirely and executes complete tests with zero upkeep—eliminating rework, review, and risk.”

Perfecto AI meets teams where they are on their AI journey, seamlessly integrating into existing CI/CD pipelines—enabling new testing powered by AI, with zero maintenance across desktop, web, and mobile. Unlike AI-only startups, Perforce supports teams still running legacy frameworks while enabling full AI-driven automation—on their terms, at their pace, with zero disruption.

“Perfecto AI is transforming the landscape of intelligent application testing. During the proof of concept, PreludeSys contributed impactful use cases that demonstrated the platform’s capabilities in real-world scenarios. The combination of automation and intelligent triaging delivered measurable outcomes—reducing manual validation efforts by over 100 hours each month, which translates to a 95% time savings. The improvement in efficiency and acceleration in speed was both immediate and significant.” – Kumar Vellore, Managing Director – Data and AI, PreludeSys.

Enterprise-Ready Testing: From Legacy to Leading Edge

Perfecto AI is part of the Perforce Continuous Testing Platform, trusted by global enterprises to unify test creation, data, devices, and analysis.

Perfecto AI powered by Perforce Intelligence, helps organizations accelerate innovation, reduce technical debt, and meet stringent compliance requirements across diverse geographies. With AI-driven testing requiring no scripts, frameworks, or maintenance, teams can streamline their workflows, improve cross-functional collaboration, and dramatically reduce the risks associated with siloed tools and complex testing environments. Perfecto AI powered by Perforce Intelligence is available now.

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Perfecto AI

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Perfecto AI in Action: Financial Trading App Stock Simulator

About Perforce

The best-run DevOps teams in the world choose Perforce. Powered by advanced technology, including powerful AI that takes you from AI ambition to real results, the Perforce suite is purpose-built to handle complexity, maintain speed without compromise, and ensure end-to-end integrity across your DevOps toolchain. With a global footprint spanning more than 80 countries and including over 75% of the Fortune 100, Perforce is the trusted partner for innovation.

Harness the power of AI and accelerate your technology delivery without shortcuts. Build, scale, and innovate with Perforce—where efficiency meets intelligence.