Cerner Enhances Critical Healthcare Application Hosting Services with Red Hat

Red Hat Enterprise Linux helps healthcare information systems leader boost stability and performance

RALEIGH, N.C.--()--Red Hat, Inc., (NYSE: RHT), the world's leading provider of open source solutions, today announced that Cerner Corporation, a global health care information technology company, has successfully leveraged Red Hat Enterprise Linux to enhance the stability and performance of its world-class application hosting services. Combined with a lower total cost of ownership (TCO) and improved scalability, Red Hat Enterprise Linux has helped Cerner meet the healthcare industry’s growing demand for IT solutions and services.

Combining clinical, financial, and administrative information management solutions, the Cerner Millennium® suite of solutions provides tools for managing electronic medical records, patient care, and health information access. A substantial portion of Cerner’s clients, representing nearly 14,000 facilities and 250,000 U.S. healthcare beds, choose to host their Millennium solutions remotely via CernerWorks℠, Cerner’s application hosting service, meaning that uptime, reliability, and scalability are of vital importance.

In the mid-2000s, Cerner sought to migrate the database tier of its hosted Millennium platform from UNIX-based proprietary systems to Linux running on x86 servers, and ultimately selected Red Hat Enterprise Linux based on previous experience with the technology. The migration began in earnest in 2006, with Cerner moving their database tier to Red Hat Enterprise Linux running on HP ProLiant servers.

The database tier migration was so successful that in 2008, Cerner elected to move the application tier of Cerner Millennium, the most critical component of Cerner’s hosted solution architecture, to Red Hat Enterprise Linux running on HP ProLiant servers using Intel Xeon processors. Almost immediately, Cerner began to see dramatic improvements in the Millennium platform’s stability, uptime and performance, with the company able to tout greater than 99.9 percent availability while substantially decreasing or outright eliminating technology costs. Scalability of the hosting infrastructure also improved, with Cerner now able to provision servers for new clients in a fraction of the time versus the proprietary UNIX systems.

Supporting Quotes:

Tim Erdel, senior director, technology services, Cerner

“Going forward, we will continue to consider Red Hat Enterprise Linux as a strong contender for new and existing platform architecture needs. Health care is a 24-hours-a-day, 365-days-a-year industry. It doesn’t stop on weekends or holidays. We don’t have maintenance windows where we get to take the system down. Stability is essential for us, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux provides that.”

Jim Totton, vice president and general manager, Platform Business Unit, Red Hat

“Red Hat Enterprise Linux has long been a trusted choice across industries for creating stable, reliable and scalable IT infrastructure. We are pleased that Cerner has elected to run their critical hosted services with Red Hat Enterprise Linux as the foundation, providing yet another proof point to the enterprise-readiness of our flagship platform.”

Additional Resources

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About Red Hat, Inc.

Red Hat is the world’s leading provider of open source software solutions, taking a community-powered approach to reliable and high-performing cloud, Linux, middleware, storage and virtualization technologies. Red Hat also offers award-winning support, training, and consulting services. As the connective hub in a global network of enterprises, partners, and open source communities, Red Hat helps create relevant, innovative technologies that liberate resources for growth and prepare customers for the future of IT. Learn more at www.redhat.com.

About Cerner

Cerner’s health information technologies connect people, information, and systems, at approximately 14,000 facilities worldwide. Recognized for innovation, Cerner solutions assist clinicians in making care decisions and enable organizations to manage the health of populations. The company provides clients with a wide range of in-house services, as well as an integrated clinical and financial system to help organizations manage revenue. Cerner’s mission is to contribute to the systemic improvement of health care delivery and the health of communities. Nasdaq: CERN.

For more information about Cerner, please visit www.cerner.com, check out our blog at www.cerner.com/blog and connect with us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/cerner and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/cerner.

Certain trademarks, service marks and logos set forth herein are property of Cerner Corporation and/or its subsidiaries. All other non-Cerner marks are the property of their respective owners.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements provide current expectations of future events based on certain assumptions and include any statement that does not directly relate to any historical or current fact. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including: risks related to delays or reductions in information technology spending; the effects of industry consolidation; the ability of the Company to compete effectively; the integration of acquisitions and the ability to market successfully acquired technologies and products; uncertainty and adverse results in litigation and related settlements; the inability to adequately protect Company intellectual property and the potential for infringement or breach of license claims of or relating to third party intellectual property; the ability to deliver and stimulate demand for new products and technological innovations on a timely basis; risks related to data and information security vulnerabilities; ineffective management of, and control over, the Company's growth and international operations; fluctuations in exchange rates; and changes in and a dependence on key personnel, as well as other factors contained in our most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q (copies of which may be accessed through the Securities and Exchange Commission's website at http:www.sec.gov), including those found therein under the captions "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations". In addition to these factors, actual future performance, outcomes, and results may differ materially because of more general factors including (without limitation) general industry and market conditions and growth rates, economic and political conditions, governmental and public policy changes and the impact of natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company's views as of the date of this press release and these views could change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.

Red Hat, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and the Shadowman logo are trademarks of Red Hat, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. Linux® is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the U.S. and other countries.

Contacts

Red Hat, Inc.
Media Contact:
John Terrill, 571-421-8132
jterrill@redhat.com
or
Cerner
Investor Contact:
Allan Kells, 816-201-2445
akells@cerner.com
or
Media Contact:
Kate O’Neill Rauber, 816-888-2880
c_oneillrauber.kate@cerner.com

Release Summary

Cerner Corporation, a global health care IT company, has successfully leveraged Red Hat Enterprise Linux to enhance the stability and performance of its world-class application hosting services.

Contacts

Red Hat, Inc.
Media Contact:
John Terrill, 571-421-8132
jterrill@redhat.com
or
Cerner
Investor Contact:
Allan Kells, 816-201-2445
akells@cerner.com
or
Media Contact:
Kate O’Neill Rauber, 816-888-2880
c_oneillrauber.kate@cerner.com