While the rest of the world is obsessed with the consumerisation of IT, it seems that the Linux outfit Red Hat is making a killing by focusing on the business use of Open Sauce.

Red Hat, which is probably the world's largest distributor of Linux operating software, managed to build a third-quarter revenue. As a result its shares went up six per cent in after-market trading. Not only is the company making a killing, but it also announced that it was writing a cheque for the privately held ManageIQ, which provides management and automation programs for cloud computing, for $104 million in cash.

This is the fourth acquisition for Red Hat since last year. Red Hat announced that it is expecting revenue of $347 million to $351 million. This quarter was not so great. Income fell to $34.8 million from $38.2 million. But overall revenue rose 18 per cent to $344 million, beating estimates of $338 million.

Most of the cash came from Red Hat's subscription revenue which rose 19 per cent to $294.2 million in the quarter ended November 30.