RED HAT EUROPE TEAMS UP WITH SUN MICROSYSTEMS TO OFFER STAROFFICE 5.2 FOR THE TOTAL OPENSOURCE SOLUTION

Red Hat Europe, a leader in open source internet infrastructure solutions, has today launched in conjunction with Sun Microsystems, a unique two for one software offer in Europe. Anyone who purchases a copy of Red Hat 6.2, Standard, Deluxe or Professional will receive a copy, completely free, of the brand new office suite from Sun Microsystems - StarOffice 5.2 and a Red Hat 6.2 Update CD. Red Hat software can be purchased directly from the Red Hat website, www.europe.redhat.com and also through certified channel dealers.

StarOffice 5.2 software is a powerful, full-featured, multi-platform office productivity suite that includes 200 new and enhanced features, including reduced file sizes, full online help and written documentation, a complete database engine on all major platforms, graphics power enhancements, and an introduction of XML as a file format. It is also available in all of the following languages: French, German, Italian and Spanish. In addition, the Red Hat Linux 6.2 Update CD contains the latest versions of the updated packages found on the Red Hat Linux 6.2 Operating System CD for Intel.

Commenting on the offer, Colin Tenwick, vice-president of Red Hat Europe said, ``By teaming up with Sun Microsystems Red Hat aims to give companies a complete open source solution. Through this unique offer we can help companies set up a low cost, high productivity and proven office solution. As the market leader we are able to offer unparalleled levels of support and training.''

Red Hat 6.2 is the current edition of the award-winning Red Hat Linux open source operating system. It includes an easier graphical installation and increased scalability and reliability for the most intense e-business environments.

For more information on this offer visit:
www.europe.redhat.com/staroffice

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.

RED HAT TEAMS UP WITH SUN

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.