ODS Networks Chooses Red Hat Services for Help With New Linux-Based SecureCom Offer

Red Hat®, Inc. (NASDAQ:RHAT), the market leader in open source solutions, and ODS Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:ODSI) a global provider of security management solutions for enterprise security products, today announced that they will work together to complete Red Hat certification and the design of a hardened Linux operating system for use with ODS' SecureCom family of Internet Security products.  Under the agreement, Red Hat will provide ODS with on-site software consulting, engineering services, training and support. 

"Red Hat's unmatched services and support organization instills confidence in our customers, who demand a dependable, multi-function security platform for their Internet and e-commerce applications," said Eric Gore, Vice President of Strategic Business for ODS Networks. " Red Hat Linux is the ideal solution for SecureCom because Red Hat Services offers ODS the support necessary to develop, deploy and support a reliable and fully secured Linux-based solution." 

Red Hat Services provides an unequaled suite of offerings for enterprise businesses and solution providers to leverage the freedom and power of Linux in business-critical environments.  Customers such as ODS Networks benefit from the open source expertise of Red Hat's hundreds of consultants, who support and build solutions that can be modified and scaled to meet a customer's needs in a manner unlike any other operating system. 

"Security services are extremely complex offerings," said Teresa Spangler, Business Unit Leader, Sales, Red Hat, Inc. "ODS Networks turned to Red Hat Support Services to assist in the engineering and support of its SecureCom products to ensure their customers would benefit from a highly secure appliance solution that can take full advantage of the freedom, reliability and scalability of Linux." 

SecureCom offers one of the most integrated and secure methods of Internet access, routing, Virtual Private Networking (VPN) and LAN/WAN connectivity.  The platform is designed to incorporate security applications and network management strategies, providing scalable and secure integration within a customer's existing environment.  In addition to a high-speed interconnect fabric and LAN switching modules, SecureCom currently supports Intel, Hewlett-Packard and Sun SPARC processor modules. 

"This services agreement with Red Hat clearly demonstrates ODS is moving SecureCom into position to offer our customers the best combination of high performance security, ease of use and lowest total cost of ownership," said Billy Austin, ODS Networks Vice President of Marketing. 

International Data Corp. (IDC) research states that Linux paid shipments grew faster than any other server operating system over the past two years.  IDC preliminary figures for 1999 show Linux shipments hold 24.6 percent of the server operating system market, up from 15.8 in 1998. 

According to research firm NetCraft, Inc. (www.netcraft.com), 29 percent of all public Web servers run on Linux, making Linux the most popular operating system for public Web sites.  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, Corel, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Netscape, Novell, Oracle and SAP. 

About Red Hat

Red Hat is the world’s leading provider of open source software solutions, using a community-powered approach to reliable and high-performing cloud, Linux, middleware, storage and virtualization technologies.  Red Hat also offers award-winning support, training, and consulting services.  As the connective hub in a global network of enterprises, partners, and open source communities, Red Hat helps create relevant, innovative technologies that liberate resources for growth and prepare customers for the future of IT.  Learn more at http://www.redhat.com. 

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