Amerada Hess Chooses Red Hat for Supercomputing Cluster.

Business/Technology Editors

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 20, 2000

Open Source Operating System's Flexibility and Stability

Saves Oil Giant's Exploration Department $2 Million

Red Hat, Inc. (NASDAQ:RHAT) today announced that Amerada Hess (NYSE:AHC) has chosen Red Hat Linux to run a supercomputing cluster in its Exploration Department. The cluster of 128 workstations running on the Red Hat Linux operating system replaces a leased supercomputer--and saves Amerada Hess more than $2 million.

Amerada Hess' Exploration Department uses 3-D modeling to find geologic structures in hard-to-reach offshore areas that might have oil or gas. The cluster of Linux workstations performs mathematical functions for these mission-critical exploration activities. The Red Hat Linux operating system was an attractive option due to its remote administration capabilities and the freedom to modify the cluster as needed with complete access to the source code.

&uot;The biggest problem with supercomputers is that they're extremely expensive,&uot; said Jeff Davis, senior systems programmer, Amerada Hess. &uot;Using Red Hat's software, we were able to take commodity hardware and easily build a supercomputer ourselves. Red Hat Linux delivers savings, stability and many utilities that ease installation and management.&uot;

Amerada Hess also uses the Red Hat operating system on pre-configured Dell servers for 2-D Geophysical Modeling, IBM 3590 Tape Access, Web, NFS and Database applications. The company plans to continue using Red Hat systems as they purchase new servers and supercomputing stations, leveraging Red Hat as a single point of contact for key enterprise systems.

&uot;Amerada Hess' decision to switch to Red Hat is a compelling example of the power of open source in mission-critical enterprise environments,&uot; said Paul McNamara, General Manager, Red Hat's Enterprise Business Unit. &uot;As their supercomputing and server needs expand, the flexibility and service offered by Red Hat will allow Amerada Hess to continuously improve key computing operations--without dramatically increasing their bottom-line costs.&uot;

Open Source Momentum

International Data Corp. (IDC) research states that Linux was the fastest-growing server operating environment in 1998, growing more than 190 percent in that year alone and capturing more than 15.8 percent of the 4.4 million revenue shipment server operating systems market segment. Additionally, IDC states that Red Hat Linux is by far the most popular distribution, preferred by 68.7 percent of U.S. Linux users.

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(R), Computer Associates, Corel, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Netscape, Novell, Oracle(R) and SAP(R).

About Red Hat, Inc.

Founded in 1994, Red Hat (NASDAQ:RHAT) is the market leader in open source operating system (OS) software, services and information. Along with its award-winning open source Red Hat Linux OS, Red Hat offers a full line of services, including telephone support, on-site consulting, developer training, certification programs and priority access updates, making Red Hat a leading resource for knowledgeable, innovative, mission-critical open source solutions.

Red Hat shares all of its software innovations freely with the open source community under the GNU General Public License (GPL). The Official Red Hat Linux OS and related services are available directly from the company and through its partner, distributor and reseller programs, which include top PC and server manufacturers such as Compaq, Dell, Gateway, IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Silicon Graphics.

Red Hat and the Official Red Hat Linux OS have received industry praise. Recent accolades include: Red Herring's Top 100 Companies of the Electronic Economy, Upside's Hot 100 Companies, Network World's 10 Companies to Watch, Federal Computer Week's Government Best Buy, Software Development's Jolt Award, Information Week's Product of the Year and InfoWorld's Product of the Year four years in a row. Red Hat was also voted a &uot;LinuxWorld Favorite&uot; by the attendees of the two most recent LinuxWorld Expos, winning Best Server Distribution at the August show.

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 [phone].

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, statements regarding current or future financial performance, management's plans and objectives for future operations, product plans and performance, management's assessment of market factors, and statements regarding the strategy and plans of the Company and its strategic partners, constitute forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of the Company's future performance and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause the Company's actual results in the future materially to differ from the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, risks associated with the Company's ability to successfully shift its business model to a model built upon subscription-based product offerings, the Company's ability to attract new enterprise customers and to meet their needs by expanding and enhancing its service offerings, the need to continually enhance the Company's Web site and the ability to generate significant revenues from it, challenges associated with the Company's domestic and international expansion, the Company's ability to enter into new and retain existing strategic alliances with technology leaders, the continuing need for an increasing number of Linux-based enterprise applications, the Company's dependence upon an open source business model, reliance upon independent third-party Linux developers, management of growth, expansion of the Company's business focus, the possibility of undetected software errors, the enforceability of the GNU General Public License and other licenses under which the Company's products are developed and licensed, the risks of economic downturns generally, and in the Company's industry specifically, the risks associated with competition and competitive pricing pressures, the viability of the Internet, year 2000 compliance efforts of the Company and of third parties on which the Company depends, and other risks detailed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, copies of which may be accessed through the SEC's Web site at http://www.sec.gov.