I mentioned just few weeks ago that virtualization specialist Qumranet, would make an “obvious target should Red Hat decide it needs more hypervisor in-house expertise.”

It was so obvious that Red Hat announced today that it is to acquire Qumranet for $107m in cash, adding its KVM (Kernel Virtual Machine) platform and SolidICE virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) offering to the Red Hat portfolio.

The acquisition extends Red Hat’s influence over Windows desktops, as the FAQ explains:

“Red Hat will be able to offer a secure and scalable virtualization platform to Windows desktop customers. Red Hat is focused on providing the best infrastructure upon which to run the complete spectrum of enterprise workloads. This will range from server virtualization to desktop virtualization, which includes Linux servers, Windows servers, Linux desktops, and Windows desktops — all running on and managed by a Red Hat infrastructure..”

KVM has been included in the Linux kernel since version 2.6.20, and while it is included in Fedora, it is not yet in Red Hat Enterprise Linux, which is based on 2.6.18-8. In June the company announced that its forthcoming Embedded Linux Hypervisor would be based on KVM.

However, the company has traditionally sided with the Xen hypervisor and has confirmed that it will continue to support Xen until “at least 2014 (seven years after the release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5)” and that “no decision on timing for the transition from Xen to KVM has been made”.

The financial details of the deal are as follows:

“The acquisition is not expected to contribute materially to revenue in the fiscal year ending February 28, 2009, but should add up to $20 million in revenue in the following year. Red Hat expects Qumranet operating expenses will be approximately $3.5-4.5 million per quarter before non-cash stock-based compensation expense, amortization expense and other charges resulting from the closing of the acquisition. The transaction is expected to be dilutive to FY09 GAAP earnings by $0.05 to $0.06 per diluted share and to FY09 GAAP cash flow from operations by $0.03-$0.04 per diluted share.”