Virtualization is the cornerstone of cloud computing and Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM), which serves as the foundation for Red Hat’s virtualization initiatives, is a predominant hypervisor in the cloud. OpenStack has also gained broad industry support because of the power of open source development. Under Balakrishnan’s leadership, Red Hat plans to expand its Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization offerings as well as deliver enterprise-class Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) solutions powered by OpenStack.
Balakrishnan joins Red Hat from Microsoft, where he held product management and product marketing responsibilities across a wide range of product lines. Most recently Balakrishnan served as a senior director responsible for the Windows Azure cloud platform business in the Asia Pacific region.