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NETWORK APPLIANCE AND RED HAT INC UNVEIL GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP

Network Appliance Inc, a leading provider of enterprise network storage solutions, and Red Hat Inc, a premiere open source and Linux provider, announced the formation of their strategic global partnership. At the core of this partnership is the mutual commitment to develop and deliver Linux storage protocols and collaborative support for customers to maximize NetApp storage capabilities in Red Hat Enterprise Linux environments. The companies also plan to engage in joint marketing efforts to showcase enterprise storage solutions including storage consolidation, data protection, and technical applications within Red Hat Enterprise Linux environments. The partnership offers customers rapid deployment and growth of Linux storage solutions for high-performance computing. In doing so, businesses can extend their storage capabilities to achieve the same performance, scalability, availability, and low-cost benefits. One of the key objectives of the NetApp and Red Hat partnership is to establish a strong solutions focus in database and layered applications areas, with an emphasis on data protection, technical applications, and storage consolidation.

"The Network Appliance and Red Hat partnership demonstrates a true milestone for enterprise storage on Red Hat Enterprise Linux," said Mike Evans, vice president of channel sales and development at Red Hat. "Customers will be empowered with an integrated solution that draws from each company's strengths and expertise to solve business challenges for a variety of powerful storage infrastructure needs."

"Red Hat Enterprise Linux and NetApp storage are a synergistic match with a shared promise of open standards and simple approaches paired for maximum customer benefit," said Mark Santora, senior vice president of marketing at Network Appliance. "By working closely with Red Hat, we continue to provide the broadest operating system support for open storage architectures and to lead the delivery of advanced technology solutions, while maintaining lower total cost of ownership and higher return on investment."

Formal Network Appliance/Red Hat certification and assertive co-marketing efforts for the joint solutions will debut in the third quarter of 2003.