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Red Hat, Inc. (Nasdaq:RHAT), the leader in open source Internet infrastructure solutions, completed the acquisition of privately-held WireSpeed Communication Corporation Inc., a leading developer of network and telecommunications components for embedded systems software. The transaction was valued at $30.5 million based on an average closing price of Red Hat's common shares for a five-day period ended June 15, 2000. Under the terms of the transaction, Red Hat issued 1,525,365 shares of Red Hat common stock in exchange for all of the outstanding securities of Huntsville, Alabama-based WireSpeed. The acquisition has been accounted for as a purchase.
WireSpeed will scale Red Hat's embedded systems business, which is enabling top companies world-wide to quickly create and deploy next-generation Internet infrastructure solutions, including appliances, handhelds and other post-PC and deeply embedded devices. International Data Corp. (IDC) research 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. Connecting these devices to the Internet and private networks will
be essential.
Matthew Szulik, president and chief executive officer, said: "The addition of WireSpeed extends our strategy of providing expertise in embedded, networked and handheld devices that connect to one other over the Internet. In working closely with companies such as Hitachi and Fujitsu to develop next-generation computing devices, we are finding that there is a rapidly increasing demand for embedded systems software, particularly in telecommunications and networking.''
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 holds 50.2 percent of Linux vendor market share and 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 WireSpeed
WireSpeed is a leading developer of communications software for embedded systems. Harnessing the power of Linux, WireSpeed's customised solutions
act as a catalyst for expediting the growth and innovation of next-generation Linux-based networked products. WireSpeed's expertise complements existing in-house resources and allows companies to focus on core competencies, accelerating time-to-market and reducing development costs. WireSpeed ports Linux to various architectures (traditional microprocessor and DSP) and crafts network drivers to get customer devices connected to ATM, xDSL, Ethernet, or analogue networks. WireSpeed provides solutions for many industry leaders in the semiconductor,
Internet device and industrial control markets, including companies like Hewlett-Packard, Interphase, NETsilicon, STMicroelectronics and Time Domain Corporation.
About Red Hat,
Founded in 1994, Red Hat is a leader in the development of Linux-based operating system software (OS) and services. Based in Durham, N.C., Red Hat builds the most accessible and advanced server OS available anywhere with technical innovations such as RPM and the disk druid installation tool. Red Hat Linux is available for Intel, Compaq Alpha and Sun SPARC platforms. Red Hat Linux available directly from the company and through Red Hat's partner, distributor and reseller programs, which include top PC and server manufacturers like Dell, IBM and Hewlett-Packard.
Red Hat Europe was established in July 1999 with its European headquarters based in Surrey, United Kingdom and offices throughout Europe. Red Hat Linux is sold and supported through a number of major distribution and industry partners throughout Europe from www.europe.redhat.com/shop.
Red Hat Linux was named InfoWorld's Product of the Year for four years in a row, was given a productivity accolade in Software Development's Jolt Awards, was named an environment/desktop finalist in the Ziff-Davis European
Excellence Awards won the editor's choice awards from the Linux Journal and Australian Personal Computing magazines, and won the `Just Plain Cool' award from Australian Personal Computing magazine.
At March's LinuxWorld Expo, more than 8,000 members of the Linux community voted Red Hat a `LinuxWorld Favourite'. Red Hat Linux recently won a Product Excellence award from Software Development Magazine.
LINUX is a trademark of Linus Torvalds. RED HAT is a registered trademark of Red Hat, Inc. UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group. All other names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
For further information please contact
Fiona Phelps |
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