Global Transportation Provider Migrates Its Mission-Critical Systems to Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Odyssey Logistics & Technology combines Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Intel® Xeon® Processors to boost reliability, scalability and performance while carving out costs

RALEIGH, CAROLINE DU NORD -

Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE: RHT), the world's leading provider of open source solutions, today announced that global transportation provider Odyssey Logistics & Technology Corporation (OL&T) has achieved cost savings, performance enhancements and expanded scalability with its migration to Red Hat Enterprise Linux on 33 multi-core Intel® Xeon® processor-based IBM xSeries servers.

OL&T is a leading provider of global logistics management services for the chemical and process industries. It delivers a comprehensive portfolio of logistics services to its clients so their products can be delivered safely, reliably and economically, with the advantage of shipment visibility and actionable data across all modes. OL&T today moves products for clients between over 60,000 locations in North America, and to more than 200 ports globally. In addition to its deep industry expertise, OL&T has built a technology platform that enables it to provide detailed metrics and visibility into its operations for some of the world's largest chemicals manufacturers.

Previously, OL&T primarily ran its business technology platform on HP-UX and Windows systems and was looking at ways to enhance its infrastructure to support its growing business. Adding proprietary UNIX hardware to handle its rapidly growing transaction volumes was prohibitively expensive, so OL&T began looking at other ways it could handle growth.

"For us, UNIX and Windows are not the friendliest environments to operate," said Brad Massey, director, IT Support Services for OL&T. "With the growth we were experiencing, we had a lot of concerns about the stability and scalability of our UNIX and Windows systems."

To address these challenges, OL&T decided to do a complete infrastructure refresh, including migrating all of its HP-UX and Windows systems to Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Today, Red Hat Enterprise Linux runs on 33 virtualized Intel® Xeon® processor-based IBM xSeries servers. It also implemented Red Hat Network Satellite to manage provisioning and administration of its Red Hat systems.

"Red Hat is the market leader in open source, period. Migrating to Linux was synonymous with migrating to Red Hat," said Massey. "We began the migration to Red Hat Enterprise Linux with our Oracle database and our HP-UX batch processing and were so pleased with the results that we have continued to progress toward making as much of our infrastructure as possible run on Red Hat Enterprise Linux."

After a smooth migration to Red Hat on Intel solutions, OL&T immediately recognized cost savings, scalability and performance benefits. With the replacement of its UNIX systems with the affordable and scalable, virtualized Intel® Xeon® processor-based IBM xSeries servers, OL&T was able to scale with its rapid growth without the need to invest more heavily in hardware or headcount. Additionally, with the ease of use and quality of support delivered with Red Hat Enterprise Linux, combined with the solution's ability to handle heavy mission-critical workloads, performance and manageability have increased.

"We've completely eliminated UNIX from our environment," said Massey. "Because of its rigorous quality control, Red Hat Enterprise Linux is truly a rock-solid platform for us. Its reliability continues to impress us daily, and we increasingly think of Red Hat as a partner, not a vendor. We absolutely trust Red Hat and Intel with our most mission-critical systems."

To read the full Odyssey Logistics & Technology case study, visit www.customers.redhat.com.

For more information about Red Hat, please visit www.redhat.com. For more news, more often, visit press.redhat.com.

About OL&T

Odyssey Logistics & Technology provides global logistics management services to the chemical industry and other process manufacturers. OL&T delivers a comprehensive portfolio of logistics services to the chemicals and process industries so that clients' products can be delivered safely, reliably and economically, with the advantage of shipment visibility and actionable data across all modes.

OL&T presents a unique scope of industry knowledge, experience and technology, applied to client supply chain operations in two distinct outsourced logistics contexts: Managed Logistics Services and Third Party Services. The OL&T team of chemical engineers and logisticians brings unparalleled expertise-they are chemical and process industry insiders, intimately familiar with the supply chain complexities and hazardous materials requirements. Its technology backbone, the Odyssey Global Logistics Platform℠ features a net-native transportation management infrastructure that supports highly integrated, flexible and data-rich service offerings. For more information, visit www.odysseylogistics.com.

About Red Hat, Inc.

Red Hat, the world's leading open source solutions provider, is headquartered in Raleigh, NC with over 65 offices spanning the globe. CIOs ranked Red Hat as one of the top vendors delivering value in Enterprise Software for five consecutive years in the CIO Insight Magazine Vendor Value survey. Red Hat provides high-quality, affordable technology with its operating system platform, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, together with applications, management and Services Oriented Architecture (SOA) solutions, including JBoss Enterprise Middleware. Red Hat also offers support, training and consulting services to its customers worldwide. Learn more: http://www.redhat.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including: risks related to delays or reductions in information technology spending, the integration of acquisitions and the ability to market successfully acquired technologies and products; the ability of the Company to effectively compete; the inability to adequately protect Company intellectual property and the potential for infringement or breach of license claims of or relating to third party intellectual property; the ability to deliver and stimulate demand for new products and technological innovations on a timely basis; risks related to data and information security vulnerabilities; ineffective management of, and control over, the Company's growth and international operations; fluctuations in exchange rates; adverse results in litigation; and changes in and a dependence on key personnel, as well as other factors contained in our most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q (copies of which may be accessed through the Securities and Exchange Commission's website at http://www.sec.gov), including those found therein under the captions "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations". In addition to these factors, actual future performance, outcomes, and results may differ materially because of more general factors including (without limitation) general industry and market conditions and growth rates, economic conditions, and governmental and public policy changes. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company's views as of the date of this press release and these views could change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to the date of the press release.

© LINUX is a trademark of Linus Torvalds. RED HAT and JBOSS are registered trademarks of Red Hat, Inc. and its subsidiaries in the US and other countries.

  • About Red Hat
  • Red Hat is the world’s leading provider of open source software solutions, using a community-powered approach to reliable and high-performing cloud, Linux, middleware, storage and virtualization technologies. Red Hat also offers award-winning support, training, and consulting services. As the connective hub in a global network of enterprises, partners, and open source communities, Red Hat helps create relevant, innovative technologies that liberate resources for growth and prepare customers for the future of IT. Learn more at http://www.redhat.com.



  • Forward-Looking Statements
  • Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including: risks related to delays or reductions in information technology spending; the effects of industry consolidation; the ability of the Company to compete effectively; the integration of acquisitions and the ability to market successfully acquired technologies and products; uncertainty and adverse results in litigation and related settlements; the inability to adequately protect Company intellectual property and the potential for infringement or breach of license claims of or relating to third party intellectual property; the ability to deliver and stimulate demand for new products and technological innovations on a timely basis; risks related to data and information security vulnerabilities; ineffective management of, and control over, the Company’s growth and international operations; fluctuations in exchange rates; and changes in and a dependence on key personnel, as well as other factors contained in our most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q (copies of which may be accessed through the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website at http://www.sec.gov), including those found therein under the captions "Risk Factors" and "Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations". In addition to these factors, actual future performance, outcomes, and results may differ materially because of more general factors including (without limitation) general industry and market conditions and growth rates, economic and political conditions, governmental and public policy changes and the impact of natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company’s views as of the date of this press release and these views could change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company’s views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.