Red Hat enters strategic relationship with Software Technology Group (STG) to promote Linux education in 125 STG centers all over India

Mumbai, September 2001 - Red Hat, the market leader amongst those developing, deploying and managing solutions incorporating open source technologies, today announced a strategic relationship with Software Technology Group (STG) to promote Linux education in India. With the alliance with STG, Red Hat India will offer their internationally renowned courses to students in India under the STG banner. The alliance is a part of Red Hat's efforts to spread Linux education in the country and raise awareness of Linux at the desktop and enterprise level.

The students on completion of the Red Hat certified courses would be eligible to appear for the Red Hat Certified examination, which will be held by certified Red Hat India personnel. Red Hat India and STG hope to target over 9000 students in the first year of this alliance.

Under the terms of this alliance, STG will be offering Linux education at 125 STG education centers all over India. The authorized STG centers will impart training for the Red Hat Certified Engineering (RHCE) course, Red Hat Training programme and Red Hat High-end Training. The courses are aimed at students and IT professionals.

Commenting on the alliance, Javed Tapia, Director, Red Hat India, said, "As Linux continues to build momentum as a commercially viable platform there is growing demand for industry professionals with a background and training in Linux systems. A lot of universities worldwide are also increasingly adopting Linux and we anticipate the future skill sets to be in Linux. One of the main reasons for our alliance with STG is that they share our vision of spreading Linux education and help drive the further adoption of Linux enterprise solutions."

He further added, "The Red Hat Linux certified courses are globally acknowledged and will definitely be a valuable credential that demonstrates proven Linux literacy for students and IT professionals. Red Hats education initiatives abroad have met with tremendous success and we hope to achieve the same here."

Elaborating on the alliance, Dr. Suresh Nanda, CEO of STG, said, "In continuation with allying with world leaders to provide high-end quality education, we have partnered with Red Hat to deliver Linux education in the country. The alliance will enable us to offer courseware benchmarked at international standards leveraging our skills in delivering quality education earned through meticulous curriculum development and adopting emerging technologies over the years. Besides, students will now have easy access to this quality training through STG's vast network of training centers across the length and breadth of the country."

Added Shankar Iyer, Training Manager, Red Hat India, "Linux is undoubtedly the most popular OS in the world currently and is being adopted at a phenomenal pace both by desktops and enterprises. Taking into consideration this huge growth rate, we anticipate a tremendous need for Linux professionals in the future. And hence, this alliance to facilitate our efforts to spread Linux education."

"Red Hat certified Linux - training courses enable the students to learn actual technology and product skills, rather than feel compelled to cram for an exam. We would like to make IT certification meaningful and add value for both individuals and employers and in the process create Linux awareness nbsp; at the desktop and enterprise level. Red Hat Linux certification also reduces the amount of training to be provided by companies to new recruits. In the coming months Red Hat India plans to launch many more new education products around new technologies," he further added.

About Red Hat India

Red Hat India is a Joint Venture between Red Hat Inc. and Clover Technologies. Red Hat is the largest open Source Company in the world with a market share of 65% of all worldwide Linux server software. Red Hat India will look to market Red Hat Linux in the Indian subcontinent and Red Hat India will also look to support and service Linux users in the subcontinent.

About Red Hat, Inc.

Red Hat is the leader in developing, deploying and managing solutions built on the benefits of an open source platform. These solutions include an open source product platform that provides the only common, globally available, and award winning Linux operating system from mainframes to embedded devices, in addition to an e-Commerce platform, Database, Secure Web Server, High Availability Server, and embedded Linux, eCos, and GNU-based developer toolkit for embedded devices. Red Hat backs up their open source offerings with end-to-end Red Hat Professional Services that include Professional Consulting, Engineering services, Enterprise Support services and Learning services. This is all brought together with Red Hat Network as the Internet-based backbone for deployment and management of products and services for Linux based infrastructures.

Red Hat is headquartered in Research Triangle Park, N.C. and has offices worldwide. Please visit Red Hat on the Web at www.redhat.com. For investor inquiries, contact Gabriel Szulik at Red Hat, (919) 547-0012.

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.

About STG - the leading global IT Company

STG, an ISO 9001 company is leading IT services organization, focusing on providing advanced software education, corporate training and e-business solutions. Since its inception in 1994 it has grown and gained a presence with over 300 centers spread across 8 countries. It focuses on advanced software training and has trained and upgraded the skill sets of over 2,00,000 software professionals to world standards. STG has alliances with global technology leaders like Microsoft, IBM, Sun Microsystems and Lotus. The American Council also recognizes its courses on Education for credit recommendations at over 1,100 colleges and universities in the US.

STG Consulting

STG offers its expertise in Software Consulting Services for client/server, internet-based, Telecommunication, E-business, Banking and Finance and Healthcare related projects to its clients globally for Offshore and On-site work

STG's Software Development Division is backed by large pool of well-experienced and highly skilled software professionals that it draws upon to serve client needs. STG's delivery methodologies are proven and we takes up complete life cycle projects as well as maintenance of projects

STG has helped companies like GAIL, ICFRE, Indian Army, Ministry of Finance, Amex, Applied Materials, Brio Technology, Dentsply, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Lucent, PMI Insurance, San Jose State University, Siemens, ThermoQuest, VeriFone, Delphi Auto (A General Motor Company) etc benefit from its low cost yet high quality developmental services.