Red Hat Linux Gets Another Leg Up

Feb 18 1999

The best-known Linux company just scored big again, proving that old-fashioned marketing is alive and well in the techie world of open-source software.

On Thursday, IBM announced it would bundle Red Hat Linux on its servers and PCs and work with Red Hat on customer support. The news gives Durham, N.C.-based Red Hat Software an advantage in the Linux competition.

Built by volunteer programmers from around the world, Linux itself is not for sale. In fact, anyone can download it for free from the Internet. But corporate customers are keen on getting reliable technical support. So Red Hat and other Linux distributors, such as Debian, S.u.S.E., Slackware and Caldera , compete by packaging Linux with various applications, documentation and technical support.

Of all the distributors, Red Hat has been most aggressive in partnering with hardware manufacturers, including IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Dell , to push Linux as a commercial alternative to low-cost Unix systems and Microsoft 's Windows NT. So far, the push has been successful. In 1998, Linux server shipments jumped 212 percent, compared to NT's 27 percent and Unix's 4 percent, according to the International Data Corp.

Central to Red Hat's plan is technical support. Linux users can easily post questions on the Internet and get informal help from the Linux community. Such support is strong, but a partnership with IBM means more formal support structures.

"If you think of the software as a free road, we're the snowplow owners you pay to clear the road," says Red Hat CEO Bob Young. "We'll compete on the basis of our snowplow ability."

In the share-and-share-alike world of Linux, Red Hat's success is a touchy subject. The online publication Linux World recently polled 900 readers, and 74 percent said Red Hat was becoming synonymous with Linux. This perception sparks worry that Red Hat could become the bully on the block. But Linux's open-source model, which enables anyone to modify the system as long as those modifications are shared, will make it difficult for any one developer to dominate on technical prowess alone.

"Red Hat is branding themselves well, but remember, the code is open," says Dave Sifry, CTO of Linux Care, a San Francisco-based Linux consultancy. "They can't say [to the hardware maker], 'You've got to use this version or make it look this specific way.' All these companies are servants to the Linux community."