Computer Associates and Linux market leader Red Hat announced a major pact
under which the latter will combine its Linux OS with CA’s business system
management software. CA's sales force, meanwhile will sell Red Hat's business
support contracts to its Unicenter TNG clients.
Currently CA’s products are distributed on the Unix and Microsoft NT
platforms. The Red Hat deal opens a potentially lucrative market for Red Hat as
its virtually cost-free OS structure offers customers a low-cost way to adopt
the CA management system. Also important for the Linux community in general is
that the CA deal shows Linux is capable of moving into the area of
mid-to-large-size corporate networks to perform mission-critical tasks.
CA president Sanjay Kumar said four or five new Linux-based products would be
available in the current fiscal fourth quarter and by next year, 15 per cent of
CA's revenue from operating systems could come from the Linux products.