Exhibit 99.1

             Red Hat Continues Scale Out of Open Source Architecture
                            with Sistina Acquisition

    RALEIGH, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--xx--Red Hat, Inc. (Nasdaq:RHAT),
the world's premier open source solution provider to the enterprise,
today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to
acquire Sistina Software, a leading storage infrastructure software
company. Concurrent with Red Hat's Open Source Architecture strategy,
the acquisition will provide Enterprise Linux customers a path to
virtualization and vendor-independent storage solutions.
    "With enterprise class storage management capabilities in place,
Linux operating environments look more trustworthy than ever," said
John Webster of the Data Mobility Group(1). Sistina is a leader in
what industry data estimate a $2 billion storage infrastructure
marketplace.
    Sistina's storage infrastructure software is the foundation for
building, integrating and deploying data-sharing storage solutions
across the enterprise. Solutions include:

    --  Sistina GFS, the industry's most advanced and mature scalable
        file system

    --  Logical Volume Manager (LVM), a major building block in Linux
        that enables enterprise-level disk volume management by
        grouping arbitrary physical disks into virtual disk volumes

    --  Sistina GFS for Oracle9i RAC, a solution designed to
        specifically reduce the complexity of implementing and
        maintaining an Oracle9i RAC system

    "The acquisition of the Sistina technology and world class
development team, in close collaboration with the open source
community, will greatly accelerate the availability and advancement of
open source storage solutions for the enterprise," said Paul Cormier,
Executive vice president of Engineering at Red Hat.
    Sistina's engineering team, consisting of industry experts in
clustering and virtualization, will augment Red Hat's development
efforts. The integrated team will work to make all of Sistina's
technologies open source and available as a part of a subscription in
the first half of 2004. Red Hat's acquisition of Sistina is expected
to be completed in early January at a purchase price of approximately
$31M to be paid through issuance of Red Hat common stock.

    About Red Hat

    Red Hat is the world's premier open source and Linux provider. Red
Hat is headquartered in Raleigh, N.C. and has offices worldwide.
Please visit Red Hat on the Web at http://www.redhat.com

    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, management's plans and objectives for future
operations, and management's assessment of market factors, constitute
forward-looking statements which involve risks and uncertainties.
These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, reliance
upon strategic relationships, management of growth, the possibility of
undetected software errors, the risks of economic downturns generally,
and in Red Hat's industry specifically, the risks associated with
competition and competitive pricing pressures, the viability of the
Internet, and other risks detailed in Red Hat'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

    (1)Data Mobility Group Research Brief, "Storage to Drive Linux
into the Data Center", February, 2003


    CONTACT: Red Hat, Inc.
             Leigh Day, 919-754-3700 ext. 44369
             lday@redhat.com