Dell Computer Corp has joined Intel, Oracle, Novell, Compaq, IBM and SAP by taking a minority equity stake in Linux distributor, Red Hat Software Inc of Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but as part of the agreement, Dell will offer Red Hat Linux pre-installed on selected Dell Precision WorkStations and PowerEdge servers.
Round Rock, Texas-based Dell has also announced that it will deliver a large retail Linux installation to Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corp. In future, Burlington’s 264 stores will manage their day-to-day business on 1,250 Dell OptiPlex desktop PCs running Red Hat Linux.
Because OptiPlex machines don’t yet come with Linux pre-installed – though that’s promised by June – Dell’s own custom factory integration service, DellPlus, will handle the Linux installation on Burlington’s behalf. This helps shorten our roll-out schedule, explained Burlington’s CIO Michael Prince.
