McKesson First to Offer Red Hat Enterprise Healthcare Platform

Reliable Linux Solution Lowers Cost of Ownership for Healthcare IT

RALEIGH, N.C -

McKesson has joined with Red Hat (NYSE:RHT), the world's leading provider of open source solutions, to introduce the Red Hat Enterprise Healthcare Platform, a cost-effective open source information technology (IT) solution with services designed to meet the mission-critical demands of healthcare.

The Red Hat solution offers our customers a reliable, affordable platform for delivering safe, high-quality patient care using McKesson's clinical applications, said Michael J. Simpson, chief technology officer for McKesson Provider Technologies. The introduction of a high-value, open platform designed specifically for the needs of healthcare IT represents a major step forward in encouraging the use of open source technologies instead of closed, proprietary technologies that are costly to acquire, maintain and scale.

The Red Hat Enterprise Healthcare Platform packages the Red Hat suite of open source products and services, including Red Hat Enterprise Linux updates via theRed Hat Network. It also includes dedicated customer support and services, as well as other open source technologies such as JBoss Enterprise Middleware. This complete solution provides superior levels of stability and performance as well as predictable maintenance cycles.

Our healthcare customers require highly reliable systems with highly responsive support, added Simpson. Doctors, nurses and other clinical staff are depending on these systems to care for patients, 24/7. The Red Hat Enterprise Healthcare Platform fits seamlessly with McKesson's commitment to product quality and customer service.

As a leading provider of technology solutions to the healthcare industry, McKesson has been at the forefront of innovative technologies, deploying many of its advanced Horizon Clinicals® applications on Linux running on Intel-based hardware. Hospitals with these deployments have already realized cost savings of up to 60% compared with traditional system deployments.

Over time, we have evolved our approach to system reliability in healthcare, said Kay Carr, chief information officer at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital in Houston, Texas. We used to focus on redundant hardware for disaster recovery, with an emphasis on back-up and restore procedures. That was a costly but necessary approach at the time. Innovative technologies like Red Hat Enterprise Linux have allowed us to transform our approach to one of continuous availability. Now we're deploying our McKesson clinical applications on multiple, inexpensive, commodity-based servers set up in separate locations for site-to-site failover. With this highly flexible approach, we have the mission-critical reliability we need for patient care at a much lower cost.

Red Hat's core platform, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, has been widely adopted as a robust and economical open architecture alternative in other industries that demand highly reliable systems. Red Hat maintains a single Enterprise Linux distribution that has been extensively tested across a wide range of computing environments. Prior to incorporation, all new features are vetted throughout the open source development community to ensure seamless integration and reliability.

The collaboration between McKesson, Intel, and Red Hat will be defining for healthcare customers as it represents a shift from traditional costly platforms to a reliable, scalable platform, said Matthew Szulik, chairman and chief executive officer of Red Hat. Our partnership continues the market-leading tradition of all three companies.

Intel is excited to be working with McKesson and Red Hat to bring industry-leading, high-performance solutions that drive down total cost of ownership for the healthcare industry, said Doug Busch, vice president and chief technology officer, Digital Healthcare Group at Intel Corporation. By working closely together, we are delivering a proven, stable platform that brings new levels of reliability and performance to our healthcare customers.

About Red Hat, Inc.

Red Hat, the world's leading open source solutions provider, is headquartered in Raleigh, NC with satellite offices spanning the globe. CIOs rank Red Hat the most valuable software vendor 3 years running in the CIO Insight Magazine Vendor Value study. Red Hat is leading Linux and open source solutions into the mainstream by making high-quality, low-cost technology accessible. Red Hat provides an operating system platform, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, along with applications, management, and middleware solutions, including JBoss Enterprise Middleware Suite. Red Hat is accelerating the shift to service-oriented architectures and enabling the next generation of web-enabled applications running on a low-cost, secure open source platform. 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 a focus on security and ease of management. Learn more: http://www.redhat.com.

About McKesson

McKesson Corporation, currently ranked 16th on the FORTUNE 500, is a healthcare services and information technology company dedicated to helping its customers deliver high-quality healthcare by reducing costs, streamlining processes, and improving the quality and safety of patient care. Over the course of its 174-year history, McKesson has grown by providing pharmaceutical and medical-surgical supply management across the spectrum of care; healthcare information technology for hospitals, physicians, homecare, and payors; hospital and retail pharmacy automation; and services for manufacturers and payors designed to improve outcomes for patients. For more information: http://www.mckesson.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 the integration of acquisitions; 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; risks related to data and information security vulnerabilities; ineffective management of, and control over, the Company's growth and international operations; adverse results in litigation; the 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, 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.