Red Hat Unveils redhat.com Marketplace - Company Business and Marketing

Edge: Work-Group Computing Report, April 24, 2000

Red Hat, Inc. (NASDAQ:RHAT), the leader in open source Internet infrastructure solutions, Tuesday unveiled the redhat.com Marketplace, an innovative new service that offers companies a single, comprehensive Web destination to learn about and purchase products for open source Internet computing initiatives.

The redhat.com Marketplace (www.redhat.com/marketplace) provides technology professionals with the perfect starting point for accurate, up-to-date information and purchasing options for Internet infrastructure solutions that are based on or support Red Hat Linux and other open source technologies. Customers can choose from a wide range of products from top computing companies worldwide in three major categories: hardware, software and Web hosting.

"The redhat.com Marketplace extends Red Hat's leadership and brand promise to bring together e-business vendors and corporate consumers in an informative portal for purchasing and supporting open source Internet infrastructure solutions," said Matthew Szulik, president and CEO, of Red Hat, Inc. "Red Hat's early partnerships with leading computing vendors led to the rapid adoption of Linux for the Internet. Red Hat continues to build the most comprehensive environment for information, products and services for open source, Internet computing."

In addition to purchasing products and services, redhat.com Marketplace users can view special product spotlights and product reviews, search the site for specific solutions and download free demo versions of leading Internet solutions. A weekly "Featured Solution" will include an article on timely topics for IT managers and e-commerce developers. Solution vendors that wish to participate in the Marketplace should visit www.redhat.com. Sponsorship and marketing opportunities for partners include special "Solutions Showcases" that let vendors detail all of their Linux and open source-based solutions.

Widespread Partner Support Participating vendors in the redhat.com Marketplace include: Dell Computer Corp. (NASDAQ:DELL), Compaq Computer Corp. (NASDAQ:CPQ), IBM (NYSE:IBM), Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ:ORCL), SteelEye Technology, Inc., eLance.com, Neoware Systems (NASDAQ:NWRE), Omnis Software, Pervasive Software (NASDAQ:PVSW), Rackspace.com, Symantec Corp. (NASDAQ:SYMC), ThinkFree.com Corp. and ZoneTrader.com.

"IBM's participation in Red Hat's Open Source Marketplace is an opportunity to showcase some of the solutions and technologies that have earned us a leadership position in the Linux market," said Dick Sullivan, vice president, Solutions & Integration Marketing, IBM Software. "As one of the earliest supporters of Linux, IBM has built an unmatched portfolio of hardware, software and services that truly integrates Linux into the enterprise. Red Hat's new portal should be a significant open source forum and we are excited to play an important part."

redhat.com and Open Source Momentum redhat.com attracts the largest global audience of open source developers and users. redhat.com Marketplace continues the rapid growth of redhat.com as the premier portal for a wide variety of open source software and information solutions. Red Hat's subscription service, introduced with version 6.0, offers continual updates to Red Hat Linux users through an innovative, automated Internet delivery service. In February, Red hat unveiled Wide Open News (www.wideopen.com), an editorially independent Web site for Linux and open source news and analysis. In March, redhat.com added several new services, including: "What can Red Hat do for Me," which delivers users a made-to-order report featuring the information, products and services right for that customer's needs, and "Success Stories," which details the business need, deployment and cost savings of Red Hat Linux for Internet Infrastructure solutions.

International Data Corp. (IDC) research states that paid Linux shipments grew faster than any other server operating system over the past two years. IDC preliminary figures for 1999 show Linux shipments hold 24.6 percent of the server operating system market, up from 15.8 in 1998. IDC research also shows 40 percent of all spending on Linux servers is for Internet-related applications, making Linux servers firmly embedded in the Internet infrastructure. Research firm NetCraft, Inc. (www.netcraft.com), states that 29 percent of all public Web servers also run on Linux, making Linux the most popular operating system for public Web sites.

Founded in 1994, Red Hat (NASDAQ:RHAT), is the leading provider of open source, Internet infrastructure solutions, delivering on the promise of open source from small embedded devices to the most prodigious enterprise. 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.