Red Hat Linux is an Essential Component of Google’s Innovative Web Searching Technology
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. – May 30, 2000 – Red Hat®, Inc. (Nasdaq:RHAT), a leader in open source Internet infrastructure solutions, today announced that its operating system powers Google’s Internet search engine services. Google, one of the fastest growing search engines on the Web, operates its search engine and all of its computing functions on a cluster of more than 4,000 PCs running Red Hat. Google plans to significantly increase its use of the Red Hat Linux operating system as it increases its computing power to meet the growing demand of users worldwide.
Google has used Red Hat Linux for all its Internet computing functions since its inception in 1998. To generate the necessary power for its in-depth searching capabilities, Google needed a large cluster with the dependability and scalability of UNIX—but without the prohibitive cost. With the support of Red Hat, Google has seen significant success. To match the site’s growth, Google has scaled its current Linux cluster to more than 4,000 computers, and plans to increase this number as the site’s popularity continues to grow.
"Red Hat’s easy installation, reliable operating environment, and scalable server support cut down the time and person power needed to oversee the thousands of Internet servers in the Google Linux cluster—thereby helping Google to maintain its focus on developing new technologies that improve a user’s search experience," said Urs Hoelzle, Google’s vice president of engineering.
Unlike other Internet search engines, Google combines an easy-to-use interface with complex algorithms to determine the importance and relevancy of Web pages—a task that requires a high-performance back-end system.
Google will continue to deploy the Red Hat Linux operating system as more computing power is needed to answer search queries and handle growing worldwide traffic. Red Hat provides the high-performance Linux software necessary for processing and retrieving search queries across all Google data centers.
"By successfully utilizing one of the world’s largest Linux clusters, Google has proven Red Hat’s scalability and reliability for mission-critical Web solutions," said Billy Marshall, VP of Product Marketing, Red Hat, Inc. "As Google grows, Red Hat will continue to provide the power and support that its innovative searching technology requires."
"IDC’s studies show that Linux is often used to support Web infrastructure," said Dan Kusnetzky, vice president, IDC. "By using Red Hat Linux to power its Web searching service, Google is taking advantage of the flexibility and power of Linux. The growth of paid shipments of Linux as a server operating environment has been impressive. It’s grown faster than any other server operating environment between 1997 and 1999."
About Red Hat Customers
Thousands of organizations around the globe successfully utilize Red Hat’s open source products and services, including ISPs, e-Commerce vendors, software developers, government institutions and Fortune 500 companies. To see how Red Hat solutions can help in your industry, or to contribute your own Red Hat success story, visit customers.redhat.com.
Open Source Momentum
International Data Corp. (IDC) research states that paid Linux shipments grew faster than any other server operating system over the past two years, and their preliminary figures for 1999 show Linux shipments hold 24.6 percent of the server operating system market, up from 15.8 in 1998. IDC also states that Red Hat Linux is by far the most popular distribution, preferred by 68.7 percent of U.S. Linux users.
Research firm Netcraft, Inc. (www.netcraft.com), states that as of May 2000, 36 percent of all public Web sites run on Linux-based operating systems, making Linux the most popular choice for deploying public Web sites. IDC research shows 40 percent of all spending on Linux servers is for Internet related applications, firmly entrenching Linux servers in the Internet infrastructure.
Finally, IDC predicts that by 2002, there will be more than 55 million handheld and notebook-style information appliance devices and that by 2005, shipments of these appliances will exceed shipments of PCs.
Red Hat’s numerous alliances with industry leaders and the demand for Linux-based applications has created open source support from many of the industry’s leading software and hardware manufacturers, including Compaq, Computer Associates, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Netscape, Novell, Oracle and SAP.
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 www.redhat.com. For investor inquiries, contact Lippert/Heilshorn at (212) 838-3777.
For more information:
Melissa London
Red Hat, Inc. (East)
(919) 547-0012
melissa@redhat.com
Bryan Scanlon or Joshua Slobin
Schwartz Communications for Red Hat
(781) 684-0770
redhat@schwartz-pr.com
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LINUX is a trademark of Linus Torvalds. RED HAT is a registered trademark of Red Hat, Inc. All other names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Forward-looking statements in this press release are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Investors are cautioned that statements in this press release that are not strictly historical statements, including, without limitation, management’s plans and objectives for future operations and management’s assessment of market factors, constitute forward-looking statements which involve risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, product plans and performance, the ability to continue to develop the Linux kernel and other software, reliance upon strategic relationships, Red Hat’s dependence upon an open source business model, reliance upon independent third-party Linux developers, management of growth, expansion of Red Hat’s business focus and operations, the possibility of undetected software errors, the enforceability of the GNU General Public License and other licenses under which Red Hat’s products are developed and licensed, the scarcity of Linux-based applications, the risks of economic downturns generally, and in Red Hat’s industry specifically, the risks associated with competition and competitive pricing pressures, the viability of the Internet, and other risks detailed in Red Hat’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, copies of which may be accessed through the SEC’s Web site at www.sec.gov.
