Red Hat, Inc. Promotes Matthew Szulik to CEO

For Immediate Release

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.---November 15, 1999---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.
Founded in 1994, Red Hat (NASDAQ:RHAT) is the market leader in open source operating system (OS) software, services and information. Along with its award-winning open source Red Hat Linux OS, Red Hat offers a full line of services, including telephone support, on-site consulting, developer training, certification programs and priority access updates, making Red Hat a leading resource for knowledgeable, innovative, mission-critical open source solutions.

Red Hat shares all of its software innovations freely with the open source community under the GNU General Public License (GPL). The Official Red Hat Linux OS and related services are available directly from the company and through its partner, distributor and reseller programs, which include top PC and server manufacturers such as Compaq, Dell, Gateway, IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Silicon Graphics.

Red Hat and the Official Red Hat Linux OS have received industry praise. Recent accolades include: Red Herring's Top 100 Companies of the Electronic Economy, Upside's Hot 100 Companies, Network World's 10 Companies to Watch, Federal Computer Week's Government Best Buy, Software Development's Jolt Award and InfoWorld's Product of the Year for three years in a row. Red Hat was also voted a "LinuxWorld Favorite" by the attendees of the two most recent LinuxWorld Expos, winning Best Server Distribution at the August show.

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. Cygnus is a registered trademark of Cygnus Solutions. 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, statements regarding the combined operations of Red Hat and Cygnus, 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, risks associated with the difficulty of integrating Red Hat and Cygnus, the potential failure to achieve the beneficial synergies expected to result from the merger, Red Hat's dependence upon an open source business model, reliance upon independent third-party Linux developers, management of growth, reliance upon strategic relationships, 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, year 2000 compliance efforts of Red Hat and of third parties on which Red Hat depends, 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.