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Leading Universities Worldwide Manage Administrative and Research Data with Red Hat Open Software-defined Storage

Red Hat Storage scales to petabytes, preserves existing IT infrastructure investments and adapts for seamless data growth

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Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE: RHT), the world's leading provider of open source solutions, today announced that Red Hat Storage helps re-engineer the storage functionality for higher education IT environments – including McMaster University and University of Reading – to manage the growing challenges of big data. A truly open, software-only storage solution based on community-driven innovation, Red Hat Storage helps universities manage petabyte-scale workloads to help produce important research and enable more effective online courses.

McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Founded in 1887 by Senator William McMaster, McMaster University ranks sixth in the country in university research intensity and is known for developing the learning approach, the “McMaster Model”, that is now adopted by universities worldwide. McMaster University was in the middle of a major ERP software deployment when it needed a new storage system with high availability and data replication capabilities. Having already invested heavily in storage hardware, the university searched for a cost-effective and reliable software-defined storage solution and found it in Red Hat Storage Server. The results have given McMaster University the flexibility it needs to take care of both existing and future storage requirements.

The university’s Red Hat Storage Server deployment can be expanded or upgraded in real-time without disrupting operations. One of the primary reasons the university implemented Red Hat Storage Server is that it could continue to add more highly available storage to their environment without compromising on performance and without impacting downtime.

University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom (U.K.)
Established in 1892, the University of Reading is a leading force in British and international higher education and is ranked in the top one percent of universities in the world. It is the only U.K. university to offer a full range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses in meteorology. The university’s Department of Meteorology needed a highly reliable, available, and scalable storage file system to manage data for its scientific research projects in weather, climate, and earth observation.

With Red Hat Storage Server, the department saves IT staff valuable time previously spent on maintenance and administration. Two new high-capacity servers have been deployed with Red Hat Storage to enable the system to scale to support 300 terabytes of data. Additionally, the department is gradually adding data from older, stand-alone servers to host more than 1 petabyte of data in total.

Supporting Quotes

Wayde Nie, lead architect, University Technology Services, McMaster University
“I showed Red Hat Storage Server to our operations people, who are ultimately the ones who will have to support it, and they were amazed at how intuitive and easy it was to use. We have a heavily virtualized environment; and we wanted software-defined storage, network, and compute to work within that environment. If you export the raw storage that resides in the Red Hat Storage software-defined layer, then you get the flexibility to export it and replicate it however you require. That was absolutely key for us.”

Dan Bretherton, High Performance Computing manager, Department of Meteorology, University of Reading
“My priorities are to ensure not only that the department can store hundreds of terabytes of research data efficiently and securely, but that good performance is maintained as the I/O load from our growing compute cluster increases. When I started talking to Red Hat, I received the assurances I needed that the challenges I’d experienced with managing scale-out storage could be solved. I also knew I’d get the extra help I needed from Red Hat to fine-tune the product for our academic, data-intensive HPC environment.”

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About Red Hat, Inc.
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.

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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.