Linuxcare To Provide Support, Services And Courseware to Compaq Solution Partners Worldwide

San Francisco, January 26, 2000 -- Linuxcare, a recognized leader in providing services for Linux, today announced an agreement with Compaq Computer Corporation, Houston, TX, to provide end-to-end support, professional services, and courseware to Compaq Solution Alliance (CSA) partners worldwide. The CSA program supports application developers who are building software for Compaq, Intel and Alpha platforms.

As part of the agreement, Compaq has named Linuxcare a Preferred Partner in its CSA program. It offers Independent Software Vendors (ISVs), system integrators, consultants and service providers unparalleled support in developing and marketing e-business solutions for Compaq platforms, including Alpha and Intel. The CSA program sponsors a popular site and resource for the Linux community, the Compaq Test Drive program. To date, over 9,000 developers have test driven a Linux application.

Linuxcare will supply CSA partners with backline technical and engineering support. In addition, Linuxcare will provide Compaq systems integrators and ISVs with on-site porting assistance at Compaq's porting centers in Cupertino, CA; Marlboro, MA; Reading, England; and at the Linuxcare office in San Francisco. The agreement also includes Web-based technical assistance to ISVs porting to the Linux operating system.

Through Linuxcare University, Linuxcare and Compaq will prepare IT professionals for industry-standard job skills certification exams at the Linux Professional Institute. Linuxcare University also will help ISVs develop Linux-specific versions of their training programs. Also, Linuxcare will support Compaq's suite of 64-bit compilers and libraries on Alpha Linux.

"Compaq is committed to Linux running on Alpha and we are pleased to be partnering with Linuxcare." said Steve Jenkins, Compaq's vice president of Alpha technology business development. "With Alpha, the benefits of a 64-bit architecture become reality for Linux-based solutions today. This offers customers performance and scalability leadership with 64-bit Linux in application areas such as high performance technical computing, streaming media, secure internet access, Voice over IP, and Web servers. Linuxcare's ability to service, support and train software developers on all of the Linux distributions enables them to provide world-class support to our customers."

Fernand Sarrat, President and CEO at Linuxcare, said, "Compaq customers will get breakthrough Linux support, professional services and courseware that only an innovative services vendor like Linuxcare is able to provide."

About Linuxcare, Inc.
Linuxcare, Inc. is the leading provider of customer services for enterprise Linux environments, including technical support, professional services, education, and product certification. Linuxcare supports all major distributions of Linux, leading Open Source software solutions, and Linux-based enterprise database applications, on all major hardware platforms.

With funding from Kleiner Perkins and others, Linuxcare counts Dell Computer, IBM, and Sun Microsystems among its strategic partners. The company hosts http://www.linuxcare.com/ the world's leading online technical support resource for Linux.

Founded in 1998, Linuxcare is headquartered in San Francisco. The company can be reached at +1-415-354-4878. Japanese information regarding Linuxcare services is now available through jpinfo@linuxcare.com.

Linuxcare and Linuxcare logo are service marks, and "At the center of Linux" is a trademark of Linuxcare, Inc. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. All other trademarks are acknowledged.

Forward-Looking Statements
 
Forward-looking statements in this press release are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Investors are cautioned that statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding current or future financial performance, management's plans and objectives for future operations, product plans and performance, management's assessment of market factors and statements regarding the strategy and plans of Linuxcare and its strategic partners, constitute forward-looking statements which involve risks and uncertainties. These statements are based upon Linuxcare's current expectations and judgement about future developments in Linuxcare's business and may be affected by several factors, including, without limitation, delays in or increased costs of production, delays in or lower than anticipated sales of Linuxcare services, general conditions in the computer industry. Linuxcare undertakes no obligation to update any such statements to reflect actual events.