Red Hat CTO Michael Tiemann Appointed to Embedded Linux Consortium Board of Directors

Business Wire, June 21, 2000

Business/Technology Editors

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 21, 2000

Industry Veteran Joins Fellow Linux Experts in Effort to Advance

Open Source in the Embedded Marketplace and will Keynote at Upcoming

Conference

Red Hat, Inc. (Nasdaq:RHAT), a leader in open source Internet infrastructure solutions, today announced that the Embedded Linux Consortium (ELC) has appointed Michael Tiemann, chief technical officer (CTO), to the ELC Board. The ELC is a non-profit, vendor-neutral trade organization whose goal is to promote Linux throughout the embedded, applied and appliance computing markets. The board consists of top executives in the embedded Linux arena.

"The ELC provides a context in which a `meeting of the minds' can take place between the open source community, embedded developers and commercial product companies," said Tiemann. "As a board member of the ELC, my goal is to ensure that these meetings serve each constituency as effectively as possible, and that the consortium can achieve its goal of making Linux the preferred solution for embedded operating systems."

Tiemann was appointed to the position of CTO for Red Hat in January of 2000 when it acquired Cygnus Solutions, a leader in open source software and an innovating force in Internet software infrastructure.

Tiemann to Keynote Embedded Linux Expo

Prior to ELC's first meeting, Tiemann will be delivering the keynote address at the upcoming Embedded Linux Expo & Conference to be held on June 22 at the Wyndham Hotel in San Jose, Calif. The address, titled "Embedded Linux and Other Revolutionary Combinations," will be taking place from 8:30-9:15 a.m. For more information on the conference agenda, please visit http://www.rtcgroup.com/elinuxexpo/conferenceagenda.html.> About the Embedded Linux Consortium

The Embedded Linux Consortium (ELC) is a non-profit mutual benefit association directed by its members. Its parents are 23 forward-thinking corporations providing resources, leadership and global reach, and dozens more multinational vendors and individuals. Members contribute dues and participate in management, promotion and implementation efforts, in return for a growing market opportunity for all. For more information on the ELC, please visit http://www.embedded-linux.org.

Open Source Momentum

International Data Corp. (IDC) research states that paid Linux shipments grew faster than any other server operating system over the past two years, and their preliminary figures for 1999 show Linux shipments hold 24.6 percent of the server operating system market, up from 15.8 in 1998. IDC also states that Red Hat Linux is by far the most popular distribution, preferred by 68.7 percent of U.S. Linux users.

Research firm Netcraft, Inc. (www.netcraft.com), states that as of May 2000, 36 percent of all public Web sites run on Linux-based operating systems, making Linux the most popular choice for deploying public Web sites. IDC research shows 40 percent of all spending on Linux servers is for Internet related applications, firmly entrenching Linux servers in the Internet infrastructure.

Finally, IDC predicts that by 2002, there will be more than 55 million handheld and notebook-style information appliance devices and that by 2005, shipments of these appliances will exceed shipments of PCs.

Red Hat's numerous alliances with industry leaders and the demand for Linux-based applications has created open source support from many of the industry's leading software and hardware manufacturers, including Compaq, Computer Associates, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Netscape, Novell, Oracle and SAP.

About Red Hat, Inc.

Founded in 1994, Red Hat (Nasdaq:RHAT), is the leading provider of open source Internet infrastructure solutions, ranging from small embedded devices to high availability clusters and Web serving. Red Hat applies its technological leadership to create open source solutions for Internet infrastructure and post-PC environments, offers services backed by the best understanding of open source and the most comprehensive resources, delivers the brand of a widely trusted open source leader and corporate partner, and persists in an indelible commitment to the virtues of open source to lead a revolution in the computing industry.

Red Hat is based in Research Triangle Park, N.C. and has offices worldwide. Visit Red Hat on the Web at www.redhat.com. For investor inquiries, contact Lippert/Heilshorn at (212) 838-3777.

LINUX is a trademark of Linus Torvalds. RED HAT is a registered trademark of Red Hat, Inc. All other names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Forward-looking statements in this press release are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Investors are cautioned that statements in this press release that are not strictly historical statements, including, without limitation, management's plans and objectives for future operations and management's assessment of market factors, constitute forward-looking statements which involve risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, product plans and performance, the ability to continue to develop the Linux kernel and other software, reliance upon strategic relationships, Red Hat's dependence upon an open source business model, reliance upon independent third-party Linux developers, management of growth, expansion of Red Hat's business focus and operations, the possibility of undetected software errors, the enforceability of the GNU General Public License and other licenses under which Red Hat's products are developed and licensed, the scarcity of Linux-based applications, the risks of economic downturns generally, and in Red Hat's industry specifically, the risks associated with competition and competitive pricing pressures, the viability of the Internet, and other risks detailed in Red Hat's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, copies of which may be accessed through the SEC's Web site at http://www.sec.gov.