Red Hat, Inc. Promotes Matthew Szulik to CEO

For Immediate Release

For more information:
Company Melissa London Red Hat, Inc. (919) 547-0012 melissa@redhat.com
Media Bryan Scanlon or Dan Ring Schwartz Communications for Red Hat (781) 684-0770 redhat@schwartz-pr.com	Investors John Heilshorn or Jody Burfening Lippert/Heilshorn & Associates (212) 838-3777 john@lhai.com / jody@lhai.com

Red Hat®, Inc. (Nasdaq: RHAT) today announced the promotion of Matthew Szulik to CEO and president of the fast-growing, market leader in open source solutions. Szulik, who joined Red Hat as president in November of 1998, was instrumental in the widespread success of Red Hat Linux, the execution of Red Hat's successful IPO and the global expansion of the company's open source service offerings.

"Matthew has done a tremendous job building the company over the past year, assembling a talented and experienced management team, and creating the partnerships with leading global technology suppliers to drive Red Hat's rapid growth and high customer satisfaction." said Bob Young, Chairman of Red Hat, Inc. "Matthew's continued leadership will enable Red Hat to develop the organization and skills to be the trusted supplier of end-to-end open source solutions for the Internet, enterprise servers, and a new generation of post-PC-centric computing."

Red Hat also announced today a definitive merger agreement to acquire Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Cygnus Solutions, which will create the largest company in the world dedicated to providing open source technology, information and services. The transaction is subject to approval by Cygnus' shareholders, the expiration of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act and other customary closing conditions. Szulik will lead a combined management team of the newly merged entity. Bob Young, currently CEO and chairman, will become chairman of Red Hat, Inc. Young will remain active in the strategic and creative direction of Red Hat and driving the global, industry-wide adoption of open source development practice.

Szulik has more than 20 years of industry expertise with leading software companies, including Interleaf, Inc. and MapInfo Corporation.

International Data Corp. (IDC) research states that Linux was the fastest-growing server operating environment in 1998, growing more than 190 percent in that year alone and capturing more than 15.8 percent of the 4.4 million revenue shipment server operating systems market segment. IDC also states that Red Hat Linux is by far the most popular distribution, preferred by 68.7 percent of U.S. Linux users.

About Red Hat, Inc.

Red Hat, the world's leading open source and Linux provider, is headquartered in Raleigh, NC with satellite offices spanning the globe. Red Hat is leading Linux and open source solutions into the mainstream by making high quality, low cost technology accessible. Red Hat provides operating system software along with middleware, applications and management solutions. Red Hat also offers support, training and consulting services to its customers worldwide and through top-tier partnerships. Red Hat's open source strategy offers customers a long term plan for building infrastructures that are based on and leverage open source technologies with focus on security and ease of management. Learn more: http://www.redhat.com

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, reliance upon strategic relationships, management of growth, the possibility of undetected software errors, 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.

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