Red Hat and NetSilicon Announce Partnership to Deliver Embedded, Open Source Solutions for Internet Appliances

Companies Plan to Demonstrate First Product to Combine Red Hat Open Source Linux Leadership with the NET+ARM Family of Networked Microprocessors at the Embedded Systems Conference, West in San Jose, CA

RALEIGH, N.C -

Red Hat, Inc. (Nasdaq: RHAT), the leader in open source Internet infrastructure solutions, and NetSilicon, Inc. (Nasdaq: NSIL), the leader in networked microprocessing solutions, have announced a partnership to deliver open source products and services that accelerate time-to-market for manufacturers of Ethernet and Internet-attached devices.

Under the terms of this agreement, Red Hat will provide engineering services to NetSilicon and ongoing support to NetSilicon customers. The first product from this partnership is NET+Lx, a development platform for Internet Appliances, running µClinux, which was ported by Red Hat to NetSilicon's NET+ARM processor. The product will be on display in the Red Hat booth at the Embedded Systems Conference during the week of September 25.

Said Cornelius "Pete" Peterson, president and CEO, NetSilicon, Inc., "The next wave of computing is happening at the device level. With the availability of tightly-coupled software and silicon solutions, the intelligent device market will soon dwarf the desktop and server markets in annual units shipped."

The partnership brings together the resources and strengths of two trusted leaders in embedded technology. NetSilicon's NET+ARM processor has been developed specifically for embedded networking applications and is used by more than 250 customers worldwide. Peterson continued, "Combining the strengths of Red Hat in open source, GNU, Linux, real-time and worldwide support with the proven NET+ARM family of networked microprocessors provides our mutual customers with an out-of-the-box environment to rapidly develop Internet-attached devices."

"The NetSilicon solution is solid proof of Red Hat's engineering expertise in the areas of open source and embedded systems," said Michael Tiemann, Chief Technical Officer, Red Hat, Inc. "As embedded devices become more ubiquitous, it is exactly this kind of prowess and creativity combined with the unique benefits of open source software that will drive the next generation of computing."

µClinux is a version of the Linux operating system that runs on processors with no MMU (memory management unit). It supports a variety of open source applications including webservers, mail clients, and ftp clients. µClinux also supports the EL/IX applications programming interface (API). This provides for quick and easy porting of POSIX compliant applications to NET+Lx software and NET+ARM hardware.

"NET+Lx has lived up to its promise. In under three hours, we installed the development tools and had our first program compiled and running on the NetSilicon development board," said Stefan Steuerwald of SpheronVR, a beta user of NET+Lx. "We are very impressed with the product's stability and performance. We couldn't get the system to crash."

About NetSilicon, Inc.
NetSilicon, Inc. (Nasdaq: NSIL) is a leading provider of integrated system-on-silicon and software solutions used by device manufacturers to add Internet and Ethernet connectivity to their products. Once network-enabled, these devices can be managed, accessed and serviced from anywhere. NetSilicon's highly integrated solutions help manufacturers reduce time-to-market, lower their costs, and free their engineers from the difficult task of integrating multi-vendor networking components. NetSilicon embedded networking solutions are used in a wide array of intelligent devices including digital office equipment; medical data collection and patient monitoring units; vending machines; factory automation and process control equipment; power supply monitors; building access control and security systems; exercise equipment; point-of-sale terminals; Internet cameras and telephones; and vehicle diagnostic tools.

For additional company, product or financial information, please visit the NetSilicon Web site, www.netsilicon.com, send email to info@netsilicon.com, or call 800-243-2333.

NetSilicon and NET+Lx are trademarks of NetSilicon, Inc. NET+ARM is a trademark of ARM Limited and is exclusively sublicensed to NetSilicon, Inc. ARM is a registered trademark of ARM Limited. All other names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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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

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Forward-Looking Statements

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  • About Red Hat
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