If the saying "time is money" is true, then the new Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.5 (RHEL) release is very valuable.
As with previous RHEL 6 point-releases, the update doesn't bring any massive changes to the platform, but it does add support for a few important new technologies that enterprises will want to get their hands on during the lead-up to RHEL 7. RHEL 6.5 is the first RedHat release that supports Precision Time Protocol(PTP). The Precision Time Protocol (PTP) is a protocol used to synchronize clocks throughout a computer network. Here the devices are connected to a dedicated, high-speed Ethernet LAN segments which is interconnected by switches. The switches are used to capture timestamps upon the passage of an Ethernet frame (also termed as message) at the physical layer. On a local area network (LAN), it achieves clock accuracy in the sub-microsecond range. That is the PTP timescale is defined in seconds and nanoseconds.
PTP is used most often to synchronize device clocks in special-purpose industrial automation and measurement networks. These devices are connected to dedicated, high-speed Ethernet LAN segments interconnected by switches.
And as usual, Red Hat has added support for a bunch of new hardware with this release, but it's being coy about exactly what chips it now supports, particularly when it comes to support for Intel and AMD components that have yet to ship. One change it can talk about, however, is that RHEL 6.5 now supports AMD systems with more than 1TB of RAM.
You can read the full list of updates in the release notes here,
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https://access.redhat.com/site/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/6/html/6.5_Release_Notes/====
And if you'd like to dive down into the details, the technical notes are available here,
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https://access.redhat.com/site/documentation/en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/6/html-single/6.5_Technical_Notes/index.html====
RHEL 6.5 is available for download now for all customers with active support agreements. As for when RHEL 7 might ship, that's still an open question. Although Red Hat originally hinted that it would arrive by the end of this year, it now looks as though we won't see the next major RHEL revision until early 2014.
