Red Hat has released the latest version of its corporate Linux distribution, offering enhanced support for virtualisation and an open source implementation of Sun Microsystems' Java platform for the first time.

Available immediately, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.3 (RHEL 5.3) includes over 150 updates, according to the firm, the most significant addressing virtualisation, support for new processors and integration of the open source Java OpenJDK.

"With RHEL 5.3, customers have access to the latest in open source, including leading virtualisation scalability and performance," said Scott Crenshaw, vice president of Red Hat's Platform Business Unit.

Virtualisation support now allows for larger and more ambitious virtualisation deployments on newer and more powerful servers, according to Red Hat. RHEL 5.3 supports up to 126 processors and 1TB of memory, hosting virtual machines with up to 32 processors and up to 80GB of memory each.

RHEL 5.3 also provides support for Intel's Core i7 Nehalem processors, including the Extended Page Tables feature for better handling of memory when operating virtual machines.

The integration of OpenJDK makes RHEL 5.3 the first enterprise-ready solution with a fully open source Java stack, Red Hat claimed.

While early versions of OpenJDK were not guaranteed compatible with Java SE 6, Red Hat said that the version in RHEL 5.3 has passed the compatibility tests and supports Java applications when combined with the JBoss Application Server.

RHEL 5.3 is available in two server variants: a base version for small dep loyments; and Advanced Platform. Client versions are likewise divided into the general purpose RHEL Desktop, with a higher-performance Workstation variant and another with the ability to support virtual guests.