The decision to use Red Hat software is considered the most important endorsement to date for the key new product from the Raleigh company.

Expected to be available to U.S. customers in the second quarter, the virtualization software was released in November.

IBM plans to allow users to develop and test software solutions in a cloud environment as part of its IBM Cloud and the Smart Business Development and Test.

Cloud computing enables PCs and hardware to be used collaboratively across networks, plus clients can boost bandwidth, PC and server capacity on demand.

Virtualization technology allows multiple operating systems to be used on the same piece of hardware.

IBM, which employs some 10,000 people in the Triangle area, also recently opened a massive new data center in RTP that is designed to support cloud efforts.

The IBM selection is another win for Raleigh-based Red Hat, which recently was selected by the Symbian Foundation for cloud services. Symbian is an open operating system used for smart phones.