BY ROBIN SCHREIER HOHMAN A year ago, only a few people had heard of Linux. Now the operating system has a huge fan base, its own cutesy logo and even a Web-based mall that sells T-shirts. Red Hat Software was an early Linux believer and is now reaping the benefits of its faith. The company dominated the Linux market last year, with 53.8% of the 2.6 million software units shipped, says Dan Kusnetsky, an analyst at market research firm International Data Corp., in Framingham, Mass. That market share translates into about $20.4 million in revenue for Red Hat. The company won't release numbers, but analysts figure Red Hat racked up about $25 million last year, with an extra $4 million to $5 million coming from Linux services. This year should be even better. Bob Young, Red Hat CEO and co-founder, predicts a 100% growth rate in the Linux market this year. There's no way to tell how many people are using Linux, however. One version or another of Linux has been available for free on the Internet for years. You can legally buy one copy of any Linux software and put it on an unlimited number of computers. For Red Hat, that means long-run money is to be made on services. "We look at selling software as a commodity play - we don't think of ourselves as a software company," Young says. He won't say how much of that commodity Red Hat is selling - he does not have to, the company is private. But Young says, with a laugh: "We're doing so well it makes me nervous." The company is doing well enough to hire more than 100 employees, and Red Hat itself has become a hot buy. Last September, industry giants Intel and Netscape bought a minority stake in the 4-year-old company. Early this year, Compaq, IBM, Novell and Oracle also bought in, and IBM has signed an agreement to resell Red Hat Linux with some of its Intel-based hardware. Red Hat also has deals with Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Informix and Corel. An enterprise future? Red Hat is clearly a big name among Linux cultists. To boost name recognition within the enterprise, Red Hat last year formed the Enterprise Computing Division. This market may be tougher to crack, as IT executives shy away from this still nonstandard operating system. But just as fans snuck PCs and Macs into IS shops in the early days, Linux advocates are bringing in the operating system and not asking for permission. "Quite often, the IT executives aren't aware Linux is there," Kusnetsky says. That may well be true: IDC estimates that 17% of all new servers shipped last year ran Linux. Go to Ukiah Feedback Tell us your thoughts on this page. Comments: Name: E-mail address: What did you think of this page? Very useful Somewhat useful Not at all useful Would you want to see: More resources on this topic Fewer resources on this topic Thank you! When you click Submit, you'll be taken back to this page.