Today at ISPCON Fall ’98, Red Hat
Software, Inc., a leading distributor of the Linux operating system,
announced that Intel, Netscape Communications Corporation, and venture
capital firms Greylock and Benchmark Partners have taken minority equity
positions in the company.
Red Hat builds, maintains, and provides technical support for the Red Hat
operating system. Linux runs on Intel, Alpha, and Sun SPARC platforms.
Financial terms of the
agreement were not disclosed.
Additionally, the firm announced it is establishing an Enterprise Computing
Division, according to Red Hat president, Robert F. Young. The new division
will offer enterprise-grade products and services to support global,
mission-critical applications.
“As the growing number of users demonstrates, the Linux operating system is
ready for enterprise-wide applications,” Young said. “Red Hat intends to
further extend its Linux leadership into the enterprise.”
“Today’s announcement reaffirms Netscape’s commitment to Linux as a strategic
enterprise-ready platform,” said John Paul, senior vice president and general
manager of the Server Products Division at Netscape. “Netscape’s customers are
demanding a manageable, scalable, and reliable Internet operating system for
deploying the applications required in the net economy. Customers are finding
that Linux provides the manageability, scalability, and reliability they
require.”
“Our investment in Red Hat demonstrates the technological value of the open
source development model for technologies such as operating systems,” stated
William S. Kaiser, general partner at Greylock. “They have done a great job of
supporting the open source development model and delivering the benefits of
that model to a growing number of Linux users.”
“Since July, the five leading providers of database software–Oracle,
Informix, Computer Associates, Sybase, and IBM–have all announced plans to
support Red Hat’s Linux OS,” stated Red Hat’s Young. “We believe that their OS
strategies, combined with today’s announced investments, continue to fuel the
adoption of Linux as a robust and secure operating system.”
Red Hat Software, based in Triangle Research Park, N.C., is a software
development company that sells products and provides services related to
Linux.
Red Hat’s mission is to provide professional tools to computing professionals.
The company manufactures shrink-wrapped software versions of the Linux
operating system, making it accessible to the broadest possible range of
computer users.