By Rich Schwerin ORACLE OPENWORLD, SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Addressing the largest crowd in Oracle OpenWorld history, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison unveiled a new program for Linux, Oracle Unbreakable Linux, that provides the same enterprise class support for Linux as it provides for its database, middleware and applications products. (Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020718/ORCLLOGO ) "Currently, Red Hat only provides bug fixes for the latest version of its software. This often requires customers to upgrade to a new version of Linux software to get a bug fixed," explained Ellison. "Oracle's new Unbreakable Linux program will provide bug fixes to future, current, and back releases of Linux. In other words, Oracle will provide the same level of enterprise support for Linux as is available for other operating systems." Oracle is offering its Unbreakable Linux program for substantially less than Red Hat currently charges for its best support. Ellison explained that the new support program is available for all Linux users for as little as $99 per system per year, and until January 31, 2007, Oracle customers can get a free trial and anyone can purchase support at a 50% discount. "This is all about broadening the success of Linux," added Ellison. "And to get Oracle support for Red Hat Linux all you have to do is point your Red Hat server to the Oracle network; switching takes less than a minute." Midway through his keynote, Ellison invited Edward Screven, Oracle chief corporate architect, and Wim Coekaerts, vice president of Linux engineering, to join him on stage. "We think it's important not to fragment the market and we will maintain compatibility with Red Hat Linux," said Screven. "Every time Red Hat distributes a new version we will resynchronize with their code. All we add are bug fixes, which are immediately available to Red Hat and the rest of the community." Coekaerts concurred. "We have many years of Linux engineering experience and an excellent technical team solely dedicated to Linux," said Coekaerts. "In fact, several Oracle employees are Linux mainline maintainers and Oracle has a long history of contributing to the community." Oracle's breadth and depth of technical expertise, advanced support technologies, and global reach includes 7,000 support staff in 17 global support centers, providing help to our customers in 27 languages, in any time zone. Screven echoed Ellison's assertion that true enterprise quality support for Linux at a lower cost is something that customers demand, and a long list of customers and partners have already endorsed Oracle's new Linux support program. Yahoo! Vice President of Engineering, Laurie Mann, took the keynote stage to share his company's enthusiasm for Oracle Unbreakable Linux. Mann explained that Yahoo!, which runs Oracle and Linux, is the most visited home page on the web, so reliability and support are paramount. Oracle's enterprise-class support program addresses this demand head on. Additional customers and partners appeared via video on the massive screens in the keynote hall, including Dell, Intel, HP, IBM, Accenture, AMD, Bearing Point, EMC, BMC Software, NetApp, and many others. Toward the keynote conclusion, the audience was treated to Oracle's version of "The March of the Penguins," as several live penguins (accompanied by their professional trainers) waddled on stage. For more information about Oracle Unbreakable Linux, visit http://www.oracle.com/linux . http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020718/ORCLLOGO http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: Oracle Corporation CONTACT: Letty Ledbetter of Oracle, +1-510-409-1969 Web site: http://www.oracle.com/

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