Enlighten Launches Red Hat-Based E-Commerce

In an effort to implement its newly-announced e-commerce strategy, Enlighten Software Solutions, Inc. (Nasdaq: SFTW) has launched Internet-centric administration software that is designed to run on the Red Hat Linux distribution.

The move, disclosed at the first annual Linux Business Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada, coincided with the launch of the company’s e-commerce and information Web site, and marks its second strategic agreement with a key Linux player.

EnlightenDSM 3.4, also available for TurboLinux, is a cross-platform monitoring tool that enables e-commerce users to manage their Linux, UNIX and Windows environments from a single console.

The product, which includes a customizable interface and the intrinsic customizability of Linux, allows security auditing for system integrity and offers such features as a centralized enterprise database for system management of actions, events and information.

“We have harnessed the distribution power and efficiency of the Internet to make our unique cross platform solution for system administration broadly available to a growing base of Linux users,” commented Bill Bradley, Enlighten president and COO. “We see the Linux operating system as an integral component of our revenue mix next year.”

Increasing Investment In Linux

Enlighten struck a similar deal recently with TurboLinux to provide users of the TurboLinux Workstation products with the same cross-platform functionality. The TurboLinux version is available for free download, and the Red Hat edition has been marked at a low sub-$200 (US$) introductory rate.

“With support for both Red Hat and TurboLinux, Enlighten has established platform coverage for the majority of commercial Linux distributions,” said Bradley. “Given the rapid growth in the use of Linux in a variety of Internet applications, including Web servers, this presents a very attractive market for Enlighten.”

Linux and Red Hat Expansion

“IDC has forecast the entire Linux Operating Environment market to grow at over 25 percent CAGR through 2003, whereas all other server operating environments are forecast to grow at only 12 percent CAGR during this period,” commented Paul Mason, vice president of infrastructure software research for International Data Corp. (IDC).

“It is significant to see Enlighten continue to move its product delivery capability further in the direction of these key platforms for future growth.”

Red Hat Linux holds a strong Linux market presence, “and enjoys almost a 55 percent share of worldwide shipments,” added Mason. “Red Hat shipped 1.4 million copies in 1998, and this represented over 42 percent growth from 1997 shipments.”

In its first major move since its high profile IPO, Red Hat acquired open-source development tools provider Cygnus Solutions this week in a stock transaction that was valued at $674 million. The deal will tap into the Cygnus product development range and help to bring Red Hat Linux solutions to a larger market.

Red Hat has also promoted company president Matthew Szulik to the position of CEO, replacing Bob Young, who will remain as chairman of Red Hat.

About Enlighten

Enlighten Software Solutions, Inc. provides UNIX and Windows environment workgroup administration and event monitoring solutions for various vendor environments, including Digital UNIX, HP, IBM, SCO, Silicon Graphics, Sun Microsystems and Windows NT.