Dell and Red Hat Form 'One Source Alliance' for Linux Systems and Services

ROUND ROCK, Texas—June 20, 2000—Dell and Red Hat Inc. today announced the One Source Alliance to accelerate commercial adoption of the Linux operating system and to support businesses building Internet infrastructures. Linux is now one of three strategic operating systems Dell factory installs and supports globally, along with Microsoft Corp.'s Windows® and Novell Inc.'s NetWare®.

Red Hat and Dell offer customers a ``pure play'' for Linux development and deployment as demand for the open source operating system increases. Unlike many manufacturers, Dell does not have a proprietary, in-house UNIX offering that competes for resources. This agreement allows Dell to align its efforts with Red Hat to deliver best-in-class Linux solutions to its customers and outlines a tightly integrated package of joint development programs, global services and marketing initiatives.

``The One Source Alliance reinforces Dell as an early leader in today's huge market for Linux-based web servers and appliances, and provides a strategic advantage in how Dell builds, deploys and services global Linux solutions,'' said Michael Lambert, senior vice president of Dell's Enterprise Systems Group. ``Dell and Red Hat can provide the best customer experience to companies building out their Internet infrastructures using Linux.''

``This alliance with Dell, a company that has tremendous momentum in providing e-business solutions worldwide, is a critical step in making Red Hat Linux the leading platform for Internet applications,'' said Matthew Szulik, chief executive officer of Red Hat. ``This demonstrates significant commitment to delivering a complete framework of global service and support today, and to the continued development of Red Hat Linux for a broad range of computing applications.''

Joint Development
Dell and Red Hat will expand their direct engineering relationship to address the immediate high-volume business opportunity in the Internet infrastructure buildout. Red Hat and Dell also will focus on future core operating system developments in the areas of reliability and availability, including clustering, to support the maturation of Linux. A key aspect of their development activities is next-generation open source systems based on Intel's IA-64 platform.

An example of early development efforts between the two companies is the Red Hat Linux stack in Dell's new PowerApp.webTM appliance servers, announced in April of this year. Engineers from Red Hat and Dell worked together to create an optimized version of Red Hat Linux for the new appliance web servers. Toyota Motor Sales USA, Inc. is one of the first companies to deploy PowerApp.web appliance servers, at approximately 1,400 dealerships in the United States.

Both Dell and Red Hat have also committed to running each other's systems internally, thereby benefiting from the One Source Alliance in a work environment on a daily basis. Red Hat will use Dell PowerEdgeTM servers and Dell PrecisionTM workstations as its primary development and certification platforms and Dell uses Red Hat Linux in certain areas of its IT manufacturing operations. New features for Red Hat Linux will be tested on Dell equipment and then submitted back to the open source community for further validation and testing. The co-development and testing is expected to provide Dell a time-to-market advantage in offering the latest versions of Red Hat Linux to customers.

Expanded Global Services
Dell and Red Hat will create special Linux service and support offerings to meet the extensive needs of commercial customers. Red Hat will be Dell's preferred Linux services provider worldwide. Current service offerings include:

• Technical support
  Red Hat is Dell's lead global service provider for Linux systems. Standard break/fix technical support includes 90-day phone and e-mail support, 180-day priority download service with one incident pack and Direct to Dell service lines, supported by Red Hat.
• Dell Technical Consulting
  Dell consultants will help customers design and plan their Red Hat Linux infrastructures. Services include: Linux enterprise solution design, migration, web hosting, high availability solution design, ASP and ISP solution development, and storage integration services.
• Dell Technology Solution Centers
  Established in 1998 and located in Austin, Texas; Florham Park, New Jersey; Limerick, Ireland; and Shanghai, China these centers are now fully Linux-enabled and allow customers to simulate production environments, create proof-of-concept systems, and size and tune Linux-based solutions.
• Dell Plus
  Customers can utilize Dell's custom configuration and integration capabilities in support of unique deployments for Red Hat Linux solutions.

Market Leaders
The One Source Alliance will take advantage of the market leadership positions of both Dell and Red Hat. Dell, recently named one of the world's ``Best Five'' brands1, is the No. 2 provider of Standard Intel Architecture Servers worldwide2 and the No. 1 personal workstation provider worldwide3, according to research by International Data Corporation. Dell's Linux shipments have increased four-fold year over year on a worldwide basis and Dell is now the No. 2 provider worldwide of Linux-based systems according to IDC4. Red Hat holds more than 50 percent of the global market for new license shipments of the Linux operating system5.

For more information on Dell's offering of Red Hat Linux-based systems, go to http://www.dell.com/redhat or http://www.redhat.com/onesource.

About Red Hat, Inc.
Founded in 1994, Red Hat (Nasdaq:RHAT) is the leading provider of open source Internet infrastructure solutions, delivering on the promise of open source from small embedded devices to the most prodigious enterprise. Red Hat applies its technological leadership to create open source solutions for Internet infrastructure and post-PC environments, offers services backed by the best understanding of open source and the most comprehensive resources, delivers the brand of a widely trusted open source leader and corporate partner, and persists in an indelible commitment to the virtues of open source to lead a revolution in the computing industry. Red Hat is based in Research Triangle Park, N.C., and has offices worldwide. Visit Red Hat on the Web at http://www.redhat.com/index.html. For investor inquiries, contact Lippert/Heilshorn at (212) 838-3777.

About Dell
Dell Computer Corporation (Nasdaq: DELL) is the world's leading direct computer systems company, based on revenues of $27 billion for the past four quarters, and is a premier provider of products and services required for customers to build their Internet infrastructures. The company ranks No. 56 on the Fortune 500, No. 210 on the Fortune Global 500 and No. 3 on the Fortune "most admired" lists of companies. Dell designs, manufactures and customizes products and services to customer requirements, and offers an extensive selection of software and peripherals. Information on Dell and its products can be obtained on the World Wide Web at http://web.archive.org/web/20000815194912/http://www.dell.com/.

Contacts

Dell, PowerEdge, Dell Precision, and PowerApp.web are trademarks of Dell Computer Corporation.
Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corp.
Novell and NetWare are registered trademarks of Novell Inc.
Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds.
Red Hat is a registered trademark of Red Hat Inc.
Fortune 500 is a registered trademark of Time Inc.
Dell disclaims any proprietary interest in the marks and names of others.