IBM, Compaq, Novell and Oracle invest in Red Hat

Will offer Red Hat distribution to their users

By Cheri Paquet, IDG News Service

March 9, 1999 -- Computing heavyweights Compaq Computer Corp., IBM Corp., Novell Inc. and Oracle Corp. are investing in Linux vendor Red Hat Software Inc., company officials announced today.

Taking minority equity positions in Red Hat Software will enable Compaq, IBM, Novell and Oracle to offer an open-source operating system to their users and will help drive the adoption and success of Linux, Red Hat Software said in a statement.

The financial details of the investments were not disclosed.

Red Hat Software selected Compaq, IBM, Novell and Oracle for their leading positions within the computing industry, company co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Robert F. Young said in a statement.

Intel Corp., Netscape Communications Corp., and venture capital firms Greylock and Benchmark Partners made equity investments Red Hat Software in September 1998.

Red Hat Linux currently runs on Intel, Alpha and Sun SPARC platforms.

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