Red Hat Ranked Number One in Vendor Value Study; IT Executives Choose

    Business Editors/High-Tech Editors

    RALEIGH, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 10, 2005--Red Hat (NASDAQ: RHAT), the world's leading provider of open source solutions to the enterprise, today announced that Ziff Davis' CIO Insight Research Study named Red Hat the overall winner for vendor value and reliability according to IT executives.
    "Newcomer Red Hat received our highest-ever score for value - a victory for proponents of Linux and open systems..." (The CIO Insight Research Study: Vendor Value, December 2004)
    CIO Insight interviewed 1,050 U.S.-based IT executives on whether their top vendors are delivering the value and reliability they expect. 81.3% of those surveyed rated Red Hat as excellent or good. In addition to that top ranking, Red Hat ranked number one for meeting customers' expectations for increasing revenues as well as for meeting customers' ROI expectations.
    "Red Hat is very proud that our customers recognize and appreciate our commitment to providing high-value, reliable solutions," said Joanne Rohde, Executive Vice President of Worldwide Operations. "Customers are able to realize cost savings and performance gains through Red Hat's subscription model which provides reliable delivery of the latest open-source technologies backed by world-class expertise and support to ensure systems remain secure, reliable and up-to-date."
    To access the study please visit www.cioinsight.com. To learn more about Red Hat please visit http://www.redhat.com or call 866-2-REDHAT.

    About Red Hat, Inc.

    Red Hat, the world's leading open source and Linux provider, is headquartered in Raleigh, NC with satellite offices spanning the globe. Red Hat is leading Linux and open source solutions into the mainstream by making high quality, low cost technology accessible. Red Hat provides operating system software along with middleware, applications and management solutions. 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 focus on security and ease of management. Learn more: http://www.redhat.com.

    Forward-Looking Statements

    Any statements in this press release about future expectations, plans and prospects for the Company, including statements containing the words "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," "will," and similar expressions, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including: the factors discussed in our most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC (a copy of which may be accessed through the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov), reliance upon strategic relationships, management of growth, the possibility of undetected software errors, the risks of economic downturns generally, and in Red Hat's industry specifically, the risks associated with competition and competitive pricing pressures and the viability of the Internet. In addition, 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 the press release.

    *LINUX is a trademark of Linus Torvalds. RED HAT is a registered trademark of Red Hat, Inc.

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CONTACT: Red Hat Kathryn Bishop, 919-754-4289 kbishop@redhat.com

KEYWORD: NORTH CAROLINA INDUSTRY KEYWORD: HARDWARE COMPUTERS/ELECTRONICS SOFTWARE PRODUCT SOURCE: Red Hat, Inc.

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