Banco Pastor Reduces Costs, Increases Scalability and Boosts Performance with Red Hat, SAP® and IBM Solutions

Spanish bank migrates its Lotus and SAP applications to Red Hat Enterprise Linux on IBM System z

RALEIGH, N.C -

Red Hat (NYSE: RHT), the world's leading provider of open source solutions, and IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that Banco Pastor, the seventh largest Spanish banking group with 650 branch offices in Spain and a presence in the US and the main capital cities in Europe and Latin America, has migrated its critical human resources and corporate emailing systems running SAP NetWeaver® and SAP ERP and IBM Lotus Notes for Collaboration software to Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Through a combination of Red Hat Enterprise Linux on IBM System z10, Banco Pastor has experienced decreased annual IT costs of 30 percent for the platform supporting its emailing system, improved performance and increased scalability for the platforms running its SAP and IBM Lotus Notes applications.

By the end of 2008, Banco Pastor looked to update its human resources management system and opted for SAP solutions for its payroll, career and training systems. Banco Pastor desired a new operating platform that would help it to scale with growth, reduce costs and provide flexibility for the infrastructure supporting those applications. The bank's email system, based on IBM Lotus Notes, also needed an updated operating platform base to provide the reliability, security and efficiency needed to serve its professional workforce, as well as the critical internal applications that rely on the platform. Banco Pastor's selection of Red Hat Enterprise Linux on IBM System z10 reflects its confidence in one of the world's most sophisticated business servers, with the equivalent computing capacity of nearly 1,500 x86 servers with an 85 percent smaller footprint and up to 85 percent lower energy costs.

Having previously utilized Red Hat Enterprise Linux on distributed platforms, Banco Pastor was familiar with Red Hat's technology, its support and ability to deliver reliable, secure, enterprise-class solutions with reduced costs. This experience, coupled with Red Hat's close relationship with IBM and SAP, prompted Banco Pastor to select Red Hat Enterprise Linux for its critical SAP systems and Lotus applications. Today, Banco Pastor's SAP and Lotus infrastructure is based on two IBM System z10 Business Class Mainframes running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.

"Our consolidation project and upgrade to the SAP system is a critical component of our business strategy and we needed to ensure that we selected the optimal operating platform and hardware for immediate results and future scalability. We valued the close integration with Red Hat, SAP and IBM and with Red Hat's service and technical support, we knew we made the right decision. The performance of our Red Hat systems has matched our expectations as well," said Montserrat Torres, computer systems manager at Banco Pastor.

The combination of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, IBM System z and SAP applications has provided Banco Pastor with a significant reduction in annual IT costs, a strengthened ability to scale with continued business and IT platform growth and the ability to manage resources easily and with optimal performance.

"With our Red Hat solution, we have achieved annual cost savings of up to 30 percent in recurring expenses. But more importantly, Red Hat Enterprise Linux on IBM System z has enabled our IT team to plan the resources required to manage the SAP system in a dynamic way, without having to increase the number of machines, and consequently to reduce the complexity of the platform and control the management costs," said Torres. "Red Hat provides proven enterprise-class solutions at an affordable price. We make our IT decisions with our business, the required performance and the associated operating costs in mind. In that sense, running SAP and Lotus Notes applications on Red Hat Enterprise Linux delivers maximum value to our business."

"Through the server consolidation benefits of Red Hat Enterprise Linux on IBM System z10 Business Class, customers like Banco Pastor can invest in innovative solutions that deliver important cost reductions and improve their services and security," said Carlos Roldan, IBM System z manager in Spain, Portugal, Greece and Israel. "The proven performance of Red Hat Enterprise Linux on System z allows Banco Pastor to increase their response capability and the availability of their business applications."

To read the full Banco Pastor case study, visit www.customers.redhat.com.

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For more information about IBM, visit www.ibm.com/mainframe.

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.

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  • 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.