Ernst & Young Names Red Hat's Matthew Szulik Overall National Winner for Entrepreneur Of The Year 2008 Award

Chairman of the Board receives top national honor for visionary leadership, innovation and personal commitment to Red Hat and open source.

RALEIGH, N.C -

Red Hat (NYSE: RHT), the world's leading provider of open source solutions, today announced that Matthew Szulik, Chairman of the Board, has been awarded overall national winner for Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2008. This prestigious honor serves as a testament to Szulik's drive and commitment to revolutionizing the enterprise software market through the open source business model.

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Szulik has served as chairman of Red Hat's Board of Directors since 2002 and also formerly served as president and CEO of the company until late 2007. Szulik has led early-stage technology companies for more than 20 years and joined Red Hat in 1998 as president. He shared a similar vision with Red Hat founder Bob Young that the collaborative approach of open source and a great brand could redistribute the economics of the technology industry from vendor to customer. Szulik has been instrumental in fostering this vision which has led to Red Hat's success as a profitable public open source software company with one of the world's most recognized technology brands.

"Matthew has been a driving force for many years in making open source a disruptive technology across the industry and positioning Red Hat to be the defining technology company of the 21st century," said Jim Whitehurst, president and CEO of Red Hat. "On behalf of all Red Hat associates worldwide, we thank Matthew for his tireless support of not only Red Hat, but the entire open source community and we congratulate him on this well-deserved honor."

The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year program, now in its 22nd year, recognizes men and women from around the world who excel at growing and sustaining industry-leading businesses. Past winners include entrepreneurs behind some of the world's most recognizable brands such as Amazon.com, America Online, eBay, Starbucks Corp. and Under Armour.

In addition to being named overall national winner, Szulik was also named winner in the technology category. Other award categories include distribution, manufacturing and security; emerging; energy, chemicals and mining; financial services; health sciences; media, entertainment and communications; real estate, hospitality and construction; retail and consumer products and services. Szulik will now represent the United States at the World Entrepreneur Of The Year awards in Monte Carlo, Monaco where winners from more than 40 countries worldwide will participate.

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About Red Hat, Inc.

Red Hat, the world's leading open source solutions provider, is headquartered in Raleigh, NC with over 60 offices spanning the globe. CIOs have ranked Red Hat first for value in Enterprise Software for four 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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  • 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.