Tough competition appears to be driving profits down for Red Hat Inc. but the company has hung on to one marquee customer, Yahoo Inc., despite recent reports to the contrary.
Profits were down in Red Hat's fiscal fourth quarter, ended Feb. 28, to US$20.5 million from $27.3 million in the same quarter last year.
Red Hat is under increasing pressure from competitors including Oracle Corp., which now offers a support program for users of Red Hat's Enterprise Linux, and Microsoft Corp., which poses a new threat through its relationship with Novell Inc.
Still, Red Hat's relationship with Yahoo at least is strong, despite comments recently made by Oracle's CEO.
"I spoke with Yahoo yesterday and they were very quick to respond that they have had and continue to have a very successful relationship with Red Hat," said Matthew Szulik, chairman, CEO and president of Red Hat, during a conference call on Thursday to discuss the company's earnings.
His assurances come after Oracle's earnings conference call last week when CEO Larry Ellison said that Oracle has replaced Red Hat at Yahoo as its Linux support supplier.
Ellison, well-known for his renegade behavior, may have been exaggerating. In fact, Yahoo's current infrastructure uses both Red Hat and Oracle products, Yahoo said in a statement. Yahoo may even be considering expanding its Red Hat Linux footprint, Szulik said.
Oracle did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
Rss FeedRss Feed
The Leader in Network Knowledge
Partner Content
www.bmc.com
Gartner 2009 Magic Quadrant for Job Scheduling
Gartner has positioned BMC CONTROL-M in the Leaders Quadrant of their "2009 Magic Quadrant for Job Scheduling." The report assesses the ability to execute and completeness of vision of key vendors in the marketplace. Read a full copy today, courtesy of BMC Software.
Download whitepaper
Dell's SMART Approach to Workload Automation
Read a compelling case study by EMA, Inc. to learn how Dell uses BMC CONTROL-M to cut cost and increase productivity with workload automation.
Download whitepaper
Workload Automation Cost Savings 2 Minute Video
A major computer manufacturer uses BMC CONTROL-M and just four people to schedule and run over 85,000 jobs every month. By switching to BMC CONTROL-M, they more than quadrupled the workload without adding a single staff member. See how in this 2-minute video overview.
Go to video
Comment