RHAT Red Hat

Red Hat (NASDAQ:RHAT), the world's leading provider of open source solutions to the enterprise, today announced its newly created Telecommunications Partner Program to drive awareness and adoption of carrier-grade server platforms and solutions based on industry-standard hardware and Red Hat software. The Telecommunications Partner Program will deepen Red Hat's relationships with leading network equipment providers (NEPs), OEMs, telecommunications ISVs and operators, and will package Red Hat's new and existing capabilities into an integrated platform that can be easily leveraged across the telecommunications ecosystem. The Telecommunications Partner Program builds on existing Red Hat partner programs and also introduces new elements specific to NEPs and operators. The existing Red Hat OEM and ISV programs have been extended to include the following initiatives for telecommunications: -- Red Hat is working with HP and IBM to build certified, carrier-grade platforms comprised of hardware and Red Hat Enterprise Linux that will be positioned as the open source alternatives to proprietary telecommunications platforms. -- A new Telecommunications ISV Program that targets strategic ISVs in both existing and emerging telecommunications market segments and provides services and support to help them adopt open source telecommunications platforms. The telecommunications OEM and ISV programs together will deliver comprehensive solution stacks for particular market segments, based on commodity carrier-grade platforms. The Telecommunications Partner Program is designed to align Red Hat with leading equipment providers and develop common strategies, programs and product roadmaps for a smooth migration to open source platforms. There are also plans to drive awareness of the open platforms value proposition, aimed at operators, service providers, carriers and their associated system integrators. "The Telecommunications Partner Program brings together members of the telecommunications ecosystem to accelerate the delivery of reliable, high-performance solutions that substantially reduce capital cost and operating expenses for service providers," said Tim Yeaton, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing and General Manager of Enterprise Products, Red Hat. "Our strong partnerships with the hardware OEMs, NEPs and the ISV community are helping to drive our range of software deeper into the network data center." "HP offers a broad array of solutions in the communications, media and entertainment markets for both carrier-grade and enterprise deployments," said Christine Martino, Vice President, Open Source and Linux Organization, HP. "HP is winning in these converging markets by offering customers more choice through the HP Advanced Open Telecom Platform. This includes integrated, open-source efforts developed with partners like Red Hat." "Solutions based on industry-standard hardware and Linux are gaining momentum in the telecommunications industry as a more cost-effective and flexible alternative to expensive proprietary platforms," said Scott Handy, Vice President, Worldwide Linux and Open Source, IBM. "IBM is pleased to partner with Red Hat to build carrier-grade platforms and solutions with IBM's Platform For Telecom (IPT) and Red Hat Enterprise Linux." The telecommunications industry has undergone a fundamental change. Operators are under increasing pressure to deliver new and better services that are faster and more cost efficient. Expensive and closed proprietary systems, long the norm in the industry, are being challenged by open platforms that can be deployed faster and more cost-effectively than proprietary alternatives, while also providing equal or greater levels of performance, security and reliability. Today, Red Hat Enterprise Linux is the operating system of choice for more than 100 independent telecommunications software vendors and is incorporated in products shipped by eight of the top NEPs. "Telecommunications infrastructure vendors and operators are looking for reliable, telco-grade suppliers of Linux. Red Hat's telecommunications partner initiative and existing customer base show that it is ready to be a player in the building of the next-generation of IP-based telecommunications infrastructures such as FMC and IMS for VOIP, IPTV and yet-to-emerge services," said Elisabeth Rainge, director, IDC. Red Hat software is the platform of choice for mission-critical applications in enterprises and telecommunications operators worldwide. Red Hat Enterprise Linux has been tested and hardened across thousands of enterprise and telecommunications environments and provides the stability, predictability and track record required by the industry. Operators and equipment providers actively participate in the planning and definition of future versions of enterprise Linux and have verified that Red Hat Enterprise Linux meets the performance, reliability and security requirements of the industry. Operators also rely on Red Hat's hardware and software certification program to provide the level of structure, process and infrastructure required to support the telecommunications ecosystem. To learn more about Red Hat telecommunications solutions, please visit http://www.redhat.com/solutions/teleco. For ISVs interested in Red Hat partner programs, please visit http://www.redhat.com/solutions/partners/. For equipment providers or operators interested in the Telecommunications Partner Program, please email telco@redhat.com. 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. The most trusted name in open source, CIOs and other senior-level IT executives have ranked Red Hat as the industry's most valued vendor for two consecutive years 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 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 potential for infringement or breach of license claims regarding 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 Annual Report on Form 10-K (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". 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