Ximian Releases Version 1.2 of Red Carpet Enterprise Solution For Linux Software Management

New Capabilities Speed Deployment, Enhance Control of Software on Linux-based Workstations and Servers

NEW YORK, NY — LinuxWorld Conference & Expo, Booth #247 — January 21, 2003: Ximian, Inc., the leading provider of desktop and server solutions enabling enterprise Linux adoption, today announced the availability of version 1.2 of Red Carpet™ Enterprise™, its software solution for providing companies with centralized software management and version control of Linux-based workstations and servers. Version 1.2 offers a host of new features and capabilities, which enhance the management of Linux systems while simplifying installation and administration tasks. The server-based Red Carpet Enterprise deploys entirely behind the firewall and enables organizations to automatically update the installed Linux software on groups of systems either on demand or according to a preset schedule. With enhancements provided in version 1.2, corporations can have a Red Carpet Enterprise system up and running in less than an hour.

Version 1.2 adds to the functionality of Red Carpet Enterprise originally released in the fall of 2002. New capabilities include the ability to rollback a system to a previous configuration of installed software, thereby avoiding costly downtime due to conflicting software upgrades. Version 1.2 also enables intelligent proxy connections through a one-way firewall, enabling system administrators to update systems within an organization even if those systems are separated for geographic reasons or business purposes by a firewall. In addition, Red Carpet Enterprise version 1.2 has expanded its operating system support to include recent Linux distributions such as Red Hat 8.0, Mandrake 9 and SuSE 8.1.

"From web, print, file and other servers at the 'edge' of the network to workstations and corporate data center systems, Linux is increasingly critical to corporate computing," said David Patrick, president and CEO of Ximian™. "We designed Red Carpet Enterprise to help companies deploy and manage software on Linux-based systems-automatically and securely. Version 1.2 reflects direct feedback from customers and makes Red Carpet Enterprise even more flexible in enabling companies to lower the cost of Linux solutions."

"We believe that Ximian's Red Carpet Enterprise, combined with SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 8 solves one of the biggest obstacles to enterprise Linux deployment-software management and maintenance," said Boris Nalbach, CTO at SuSE. "We are seeing increasing interest from our customers in Red Carpet Enterprise as a way to dramatically simplify management of their Linux servers and workstations. We look forward to working with Ximian to help our mutual customers reduce the total cost of ownership of their Linux solutions."

Prior to the use of Red Carpet, IT and engineering personnel developed their own software updating solutions or manually updated systems with the latest packages, an expensive and time-consuming process. With Red Carpet Enterprise, administrators use a single, powerful solution to automatically deliver and update packages to Linux systems across their organizations. Without the need for expensive and time-consuming third-party customization or services, administrators can build secure, private software "channels" to deliver Linux packages that have been internally developed or customized, as well as packages from the optional broad Red Carpet library of applications from Ximian and other leading Linux vendors.

"Protecting today's enterprise from the ever changing roster of internal and external network threats and attacks requires staying current with the latest security software," said Jim Melvin, president and CEO of Mazu Networks. "Red Carpet Enterprise addresses our customers' needs for easy administration of up-to-the minute updates. We look forward to working with Ximian in the future to deliver our PowerSecure updates quickly."

"We selected Red Carpet Enterprise to manage and maintain web, FTP and other servers running our custom version of Red Hat Linux," said Joe Pranevich, operations manager for US Web Publishing at Lycos. "Red Carpet Enterprise addressed our requirements for secure, centralized software management, including deployment behind our firewall, sophisticated dependency resolution, and scheduled updating. The result is that Red Carpet Enterprise helps us ensure quicker deployment time on critical releases."

New Red Carpet Enterprise features include:

• System rollback-To improve the reliability of systems, administrators can recall the last working configuration. This is especially important in cases where updated packages create unexpected conflicts.
• Increased system control and alerts-With the new Instapull capability, administrators can execute or "push" immediate updates of software packages to groups of Linux systems. Red Carpet Enterprise also now enables users to exclude an update in cases when that package is not necessary but already scheduled. New email alerts can automatically notify administrators about the status of both scheduled and end user initiated updating sessions.
• Updates through firewalled internal networks-Thanks to the addition in Red Carpet Enterprise of an intelligent proxy connection through a one-way firewall, administrators can update systems within an organization even if those systems are separated by a firewall. So in cases when systems must remain separate for business purposes, those systems do not require additional work to maintain.
• Streamlined installation and configuration-Corporations can have Red Carpet Enterprise up and running in less than an hour, thanks to an improved installation time of just 30 minutes for the server, and five minutes for each client. Administrators can also specify software to be installed on a file by file basis or by selecting an entire directory.
• Extended Linux platform support-Red Carpet Enterprise now supports systems running several additional Linux platforms, including Red Hat 8.0, Mandrake 9 and SuSE 8.1
• Additional browser support-Administrators can now use both Mozilla and Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 browsers to access the web-based Red Carpet Enterprise management console from either Windows or Linux PCs.

Custom Software Management and Updating

Red Carpet Enterprise offers both an intuitive web-based administration console and a powerful command line interface to enable administrators to set up the Red Carpet Server to centrally configure and distribute software selections as well as organize groups of machines for both software installation and updates. The command line interface provides a host of additional time-saving power tools, from querying systems for installed software to adding packages to be distributed. Updates for workstations and servers can be initiated automatically "on demand" by users of the Red Carpet client, or unattended on specified schedules. The web-based administration console also includes flexible reporting, detailing download and installation activities.

The Red Carpet Enterprise server tightly integrates with the Red Carpet graphical client and Red Carpet Daemon software used to update hundreds of thousands of Linux systems worldwide. Red Carpet is a software management solution that efficiently and securely keeps Linux systems up-to-date. Its intuitive software channels and automatic dependency and conflict resolution let users easily install, update and maintain software over the Internet from Ximian, leading Linux distribution providers and a growing library of other third-party independent software vendors (ISVs). Especially important for mixed computing environments, Red Carpet uniquely provides multi-platform support, updating systems running a broad range of Linux distributions, including Red Hat, SuSE, Mandrake, Debian and more.

Pricing and Availability

The Red Carpet server starts at $2,500 with a software license starting at $200 for each managed system, with organizational volume pricing available. Customers may optionally subscribe to the Red Carpet library subscription service, starting at $60 per system per year, which provides updates to the latest software from Ximian, leading Linux distributions and third-party vendors. For more information regarding Red Carpet Enterprise, customers can contact Ximian directly by phone (617-375-3800), email (sales@ximian.com) or by visiting the Ximian web site at http://www.ximian.com/.

The Red Carpet Suite of Products and Services

Red Carpet Enterprise is part of a suite of Red Carpet products and services for end users and corporate customers. For organizations that prefer a hosted solution, Ximian offers Red Carpet CorporateConnect™, a web-based service that provides customers with many of the same capabilities of Red Carpet Enterprise. For individuals, Red Carpet Express is a time-saving subscription service that provides customers with priority, high-bandwidth Internet downloading and updating of Linux software from Ximian, leading Linux distributions and third-party vendors. More information is available at http://www.ximian.com/.

About Ximian, Inc.

Ximian is the leading provider of desktop and server solutions enabling enterprise Linux adoption. Ximian products, in use by over 1,000,000 people worldwide, provide the interoperability, management functionality and ease of use required to integrate Linux users and systems into mixed corporate computing environments. Ximian offers both a complete Linux desktop environment and productivity application suite and enterprise software management solutions to dramatically reduce the cost of deploying and maintaining Linux systems. Ximian founders are pioneers of the open source GNOME and Mono projects. The company has secured funding from leading venture firms Charles River Ventures and Battery Ventures. It can be reached at http://www.ximian.com/.