We are pleased to announce that Red Hat’s Data Services Platform, specifically MetaMatrix 5.5.3, has achieved Common Criteria certification at Evaluation Assurance Level (EAL) 2. This is a significant milestone for Red Hat’s data services solutions and adds another Common Criteria certification to the Red Hat portfolio, in line with the goals we set in November 2007.

Recognized in 25 countries, Common Criteria is a set of internationally approved guidelines for evaluating and certifying the information security of IT products and information systems. The certification gives private and public sector organizations the confidence that the evaluated IT solution complies with widely accepted security standards.

Data services platforms have become more important as the business world continues to face ever-increasing scrutiny and regulation. The Common Criteria certification for our Data Services Platform, MetaMatrix 5.5.3 shows that the solution complies with these worldwide security standards, making it an attractive option for a security-conscious company or government agency.

Red Hat’s Data Services Platform can help bridge the gap between the data you have and the data you need, reducing the time and cost of software development and integration. This solution facilitates the development of systems that provide consistent, integrated data in real time with enterprise performance, security and management capabilities allowing customers to make better use of existing information assets and work already done.

Red Hat’s Data Services Platform, MetaMatrix, is the latest Red Hat solution to meet the stringent requirements for Common Criteria – the JBoss Enterprise Application Platform received its certification in July 2009. To see the full listing of security-certified Red Hat solutions, please visit our Certifications and Accreditations page.

Red Hat continued its quest for a remedy to the problem of software patents today by submitting an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in the Bilski case. The Court has decided to address the issue of when abstract subject matter is outside the range of inventions that can be patented. Our brief sets out the background facts related to software patents and asks that the Court address them. As most everyone in the open source software community knows by now, this is a serious issue.

The success of open source software shows that patents are not necessary to promote software innovation. Patents give the right to exclude others from using an invention, but open source developers are not seeking exclusion. They want to share code and collaborate, and patents interfere with this process. Open source developers aren’t alone in understanding the dangers of patents. For example, back in 1991, Bill Gates stated, “If people had understood how patents would be granted when most of today’s ideas were invented and had taken out patents, the industry would be at a complete standstill today.” It should be noted that Microsoft recently acquired its 10,000th patent, and Mr. Gates has not, to our knowledge, recently questioned the logic of software patents.

But patents are problematic for innovation. In the 1990s, federal court decisions began allowing patents in areas that had previously been considered too abstract for patenting, including software, and now there are more than 200,000 computer software patents. Modern programs may involve thousands of discrete components that may arguably infringe previously issued patents.

As patent lawyers know, proving patent infringement does not require showing that the accused party copied the patent holder’s product or had knowledge of the patent. A new invention can be completely original, in the sense that it is the product of independent creativity, and also infringe a patent. In fact, most infringement cases involve no allegation that the defendant wrongfully copied someone else’s patented invention.

There is no practical way for software developers to be certain that their freshly conceived code does not infringe some prior patent. The boundaries of individual patents are usually vague and uncertain, and there is no reliable way to clear new products by searching existing patents. This means that an act of creating innovative (or non-innovative) software always entails the possibility of an expensive infringement lawsuit. Under the current law, innovation in software is like sky diving – it requires a substantial tolerance for risk.

In the Bilski case, the Federal Circuit did not directly address the problem of software patents, but limited its decision to the business method claim before it. Even so, it articulated a test that appeared to be good for software innovation. The “machine-or-transformation” test has been read by lower courts to reject a number of software patents. Now that the Supreme Court has taken the case for review, we’ve asked the Court to affirm the test and clarify that it should be applied to exclude software algorithms from patenting.

From the briefs filed so far in Bilski, we’re well aware that many powerful interests do not share our views. It isn’t surprising that beneficiaries of the current system, such as patent lawyers and companies seeking licensing income, would support the status quo. But it is puzzling that others who have been important supporters of the open source community have submitted briefs that ignore the harms caused by software patents. The brief of one large technology company even tried to argue that patents somehow benefit the open source community. Obviously, we disagree. We hope the Court will address this issue, and may the best argument win.

What if you could develop software without risking a patent infringement lawsuit?

What if open source innovation was unencumbered by lurking patent trolls?

What if there were no software patents?

The United States Supreme Court will be reviewing the Bilski case in the coming weeks. The Court’s decision in this case could help move some of these “what ifs” closer to reality.

The Bilski case involves the standard for patenting a process. The Federal Circuit issued its decision in the case about a year ago, and now it’s up for Supreme Court review. The high court’s decision on patentable subject matter is of huge importance to the future of software development, including open source. The Court’s ruling on Bilski could clarify the law and lessen the risks that software innovation will be hindered by patents.

The Federal Circuit’s decision in Bilski recognized that abstract ideas are not patentable, and a new test for patentability was substituted. The Federal Circuit set forth a clear test to determine if a process is patentable in stating that it must be either “tied to a particular machine or apparatus” or must “transform a particular article into a different state or thing.”

Red Hat has continually shown our commitment to open source throughout the Bilski proceedings. Today, we announced that we’ve filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court explaining the practical problems of software patents to software developers. It also asks the Supreme Court to adopt the machine-or-transformation test set forth in the Bilski case and to make clear that it excludes software from patentability.

While we haven’t won yet, Red Hat will continue fighting for the good of technology and for the good of innovation.

Red Hat today announced it is a founding member of Open Source for America. Launched today, Open Source for America’s mission is to serve as an effective voice to the U.S. Federal Government on behalf of the open source development community and industry representatives.

The Obama Administration has articulated its interest in developing an open, transparent and participatory government from its very first days in office. The formation of Open Source for America is a step in the right direction to advocate and promote the benefits of open source and help achieve a truly effective and efficient government.

Open source provides an answer to government agencies at all levels as they look for opportunities to carve out IT costs, improve security and increase efficiency. Government agencies are using Red Hat’s open source solutions to meet mission-critical IT demands and improve service delivery. Take a look here at the many government entities in not only the United States, but across the globe who rely on Red Hat.

At Red Hat, we’ve been leading the charge for years for open source in the government sector.

More than 60 companies, academic institutions, open source communities, think tanks and related groups and individuals have joined with Red Hat in promoting open source in government through Open Source for America. Participation is open to any person or entity signing Open Source for America’s mission pledge. I offer a challenge to all advocates of open source to join Open Source for America today and continue to build on this unprecedented opportunity to change our government.

Summer is quickly approaching in the Northern Hemisphere and we cannot believe how fast April came and went. The Red Hat Summit and JBoss World are officially four months away, and we are very excited about everything these co-located events will offer attendees. Mark your calendars and don’t forget to submit for the 2009 Innovation Awards before nominations close on May 31. This year’s winners will be announced in September at Red Hat Summit and JBoss World.

Red Hat has a busy May ahead of us, with events in every region of the world. Make sure to keep up-to-date on all Red Hat events by following us on Twitter.

Worldwide

Red Hat and the Salt River Project (SRP) will be hosting a webinar on May 5 at 2:00 p.m. ET. Learn from a customer’s perspective how SRP made Red Hat Enterprise Linux deployable, scalable and manageable.

JBoss will be hosting a webinar entitled “Make it Rich: JBoss Tools to Easily Build Rich Internet Applications.” The webinar will take place on May 7 at 2:00 p.m. ET, and recordings will be available soon after.

View all upcoming worldwide events.

North America

Jim Whitehurst, president and CEO,will be keynoting on Monday, May 4, from 1:30-2:30 p.m. PT at the SIIA Software Summit and CODiE Awards conference, located in San Francisco. This is a comprehensive conference for the entire software industry including: ISVs, platform vendors, system integrators, venture capitalists other influencers.

On May 5th, Red Hat will be hosting the JBoss Government Users and Developers Conference in Washington, DC. Back by popular demand, this complimentary one-day conference will help attendees learn how agencies can securely and rapidly deliver mission-critical Web 2.0 applications and SOA services by leveraging open source middleware and data services platforms.

Interop 2009 will take place in Las Vegas on May 21. Interop drives the adoption of technology, providing knowledge and insight to help IT and corporate decision-makers achieve business success. Red Hat’s Mike Ferris, director of product strategy, will be participating on a panel entitled “Virtual Desktop.Delivery – One Size Does Not Fit All.” Red Hat will also be in booth #857 and is a sponsor of Interop’s Virtualization Day.

Jim Whitehurst will also keynote at MeriTalk’s Federal IT on a Budget Forum in Washington, D.C. on May 21. The Federal IT on a Budget Forum will explore how to deploy innovative IT approaches such as open source, virtualization and cloud computing to create new funding within existing budgets.
Check out all of the North America events in May:

May 3 – 7, Collaborate 09, Orlando

May 11–14, SAP Sapphire 09, Orlando

May 11–15, GTC West: The Conference on California’s Future, Sacramento

May 14, BtoB NetMarketing, Boston

May 17–21, 2009 DoDIIS Worldwide Conference, Orlando

May 31–June 3, National Laboratories Information Technology 2009, Knoxville, TN

EMEA

Fedora will be present at FossComm 2, in Greece, May 9–10. This event brings together FOSS communities throughout the region for education, advocacy and technical development.

LATAM

Fedora will be present at the VI Foro Mundial de Conocimiento Libre in Venezuela, May 4-8. The forum brings together international, open and inclusive communities to cover topics such as building local communities around free knowledge.

Fedora will also be present at the III ENSL e IV FSLBA event in Brazil, May 29–30. This event will focus on increasing development and the use of free software throughout Brazil and Latin America.

APJ

Red Hat is a gold sponsor at the JAOO Conference in Sydney and Brisbane, May 5 and 14 respectively. Swing by to learn more about software development, process improvement, patterns and enterprise architecture.

Check out other APJ events in May:

May 12, Delivering Enterprise Content Management, Melbourne, Australia

May 14, AusCERT 2009 – The Security Revolution, Gold Coast, Australia

2009 has already been a big year for open source solutions in government. Enthused by President Obama’s call for a transparent, participatory and collaborative government, pundits and government and technology leaders are calling for an open source government. The Do It Yourself (DIY) Federal IT Bailout Report, issued by MeriTalk, an online community addressing IT and public policy issues, identified billions of dollars in potential Federal IT savings for government agencies from open source, virtualization and cloud computing. The Department of Defense (DoD) launched Forge.mil as a site where developers can work on open source software projects specifically for the DoD. Both Carahsoft Technology Corp., the Master Government Partner for Red Hat, and DLT Solutions, a Red Hat Ready Government Partner that serves as a government and educational reseller for Red Hat, were awarded Blanket Purchase Agreements (BPAs) through the DoD’s Enterprise Software Initiative (DoD-ESI) to provide open source solutions – including Red Hat and JBoss – to the DoD community. And most recently, the Open Source Software Institute (OSSI) and the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) announced that they would be collaborating on a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) to publicly distribute more than 50 federal administration agreements under an open source license.

So why is the government’s adoption of open source solutions garnering so much attention these days?As Paul Smith, vice president of Red Hat’s government sales operations, outlines below (in an article originally contributed to MeriTalk), open source simply enables government officials to deliver a better government faster.

Delivering a Better Government Faster Through Open Source

By Paul Smith, Vice President of Government Sales Operations, Red Hat

Much has been said in recent weeks about the need for change transparency and accountability at all levels of government. During his first full day in office, President Barack Obama set forth his expectations regarding government transparency in two important memorandums fueling commentary that President Obama is the first open source president.

In the first, a memorandum addressed to the heads of executive departments and agencies on Transparency and Open Government, President Obama declares, “My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government. We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government.” He states clearly that government should be transparent, participatory, and collaborative, and vows to coordinate the development of an Open Government Directive to be issued by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that instructs executive departments and agencies to take specific actions implementing the principles set forth in this memorandum.

In his second memorandum on the Freedom of Information Act, President Obama succinctly notes that, “A democracy requires accountability and accountability requires transparency.” Only open source meets the expectation of transparency and accountability President Obama has set forth. While most closely associated with software development where the source code is freely shared, open source transcends technology. Successful examples of collaboration and openness are not difficult to come by across disciplines.

Take the Human Genome Project and Wikipedia as two examples. The Human Genome Project was an international 13-year research effort coordinated by the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Energy to determine the sequence of the human genome and identify the location of the genes that it contains. The information generated by the Human Genome Project has allowed researchers to begin to understand the human blueprint and remains as the source book for biomedical science in the 21st century. As researchers learn more about the functions of genes and proteins this knowledge will be of immense benefit to the fields of medicine and biotechnology and will be used to understand and treat many of the more than 4,000 genetic diseases that afflict mankind.

James Kent, the then graduate student responsible for writing the human genome assembly program, completed the 10,000-line program in less than a month because of his concern that the genome would be locked up by commercial patents if an assembled sequence was not made publicly available for all scientists to work on. Quite simply, Kent’s work to ensure that the Human Genome Project remained open has enabled better science faster.

Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia built by an active community of participants, takes an open source approach to information. Open source information repositories such as Wikipedia have forever changed the way knowledge is captured and the collaborative nature of the wiki platform has resulted in more than 75,000 active contributors working on more than 10,000,000 articles in more than 260 languages. Through an open source model, Wikipedia provides better information faster. As pointed out by Douglas Raymond, a former U.S. Army captain, former member of the 66th Military Intelligence Group, and current member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and Paula Broadwell, a PhD student in counterterrorism policy studies at Harvard University and the deputy director of the Jebsen Center for Counter-Terrorism Studies at Tufts University’s Fletcher School, the U.S. intelligence community would be wise to further adopt a Wikipedia-like approach to collaborative information sharing. U.S. intelligence agencies must adopt this collaborative spirit and become more adept at incorporating the increasingly valuable analysis produced in the public domain with their internal efforts.

In other areas of government this type of collaboration is already underway. Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux) was originally released under the General Public License (GPL) in late 2000 by the National Security Agency’s (NSA) Office of Information Assurance. Since then it has been developed by the open source community in collaboration with the NSA. Here open source is being used to create better security policies and enhancements faster.

As we work to fund initiatives, including the Economic Stimulus Plan, the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), and the continued global war against terrorism, government executives must find other areas where we can become more efficient while ensuring they meet their missions. Open source is stable, trustworthy, and safe and is being used across government agencies to create efficiencies and avoid vendor lock-in. As government agencies strive for accountability and to comply with OMB’s forthcoming Open Government Directive, only open source solutions meet President Obama’s requirements for a transparent, participatory, and collaborative government.

At the end of the day adopting open source – both through our approach to government and technology – will enable us to deliver better government faster.

President Obama came to office with the promise of change. His administration has pledged to create an environment of openness and participation. Some have already called him the “open source president” such as consultant and CNN contributor Alex Castellanos.

There’s no better time than now. Transparency builds trust. Participation solves problems. And we believe that open source provides an answer.

Red Hat is excited that the Obama administration recognizes the value of open source beyond software. Open source principles are changing how we learn, how we share information, how developers create, and how companies do business. Now it has the opportunity to change our government.

When information is open and individuals have the means to contribute, everyone shares in the responsibility for improvement. Informed citizens become engaged citizens. Engaged citizens contribute opinions, ideas, and effort. Our government has pledged to listen. It’s time to give citizens a new voice.

We must build the structure and culture for participation, from the highest levels of government to municipal town halls. We need to unlock the doors that stand between citizens and information. Both infrastructure and information must be open and easily accessible to all.

It begins with government itself. Open source can provide an effective way for government to cut costs and ensure open access to information. Lowering the costs of infrastructure will help provide resources for our government to focus on finding solutions to the challenges that lie ahead.

In the private sector, Linux and open source have brought choice and cost savings. Large organizations, including some Federal, state, and local government agencies, have adopted open source as an alternative to expensive proprietary technology. Open source has already saved the Federal Government a substantial amount of money and can provide an opportunity to save millions more.

Open source can also provide access to information. Open Document Format, or ODF, is a standard that asserts that public documents should be based in open, non-proprietary formats that anyone can read at any time. To date more than 15 national governments have endorsed the standard. We believe citizens shouldn’t have to pay twice to access information that already belongs to them. Also, as closed formats become obsolete, documents and data could be lost. ODF keeps public information public.

We have seen what can happen when the public has access to information. A model of transparency and participation offers the promise of an answer to our ailing economy. The effort of many, even in small ways, can be mobilized toward solving the largest problems.

This is why open source is an ideal model for government. It thrives on open communication. It is collaborative to its core. With the same models employed in government, we believe that representatives can distribute more information more quickly, and in turn, citizens can share the knowledge representatives need to make informed decisions.

Open source principles are changing everything around us. User-driven models lower the barrier to publish and access content. With Wikipedia, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, we have all become creators and curators, exchanging information freely.

We believe that open source also creates a meritocracy, an environment where everyone can contribute, and ideas are adopted and rewarded based on their merit. A meritocracy recognizes that the best ideas can come from anyone, anywhere.

There were signs that a new era of openness had begun even before Obama was sworn in–from a campaign that encouraged participation, to Change.gov, the transition site for the new administration. Change.gov was an effort to provide regular information to citizens, create a forum for ideas, and foster an ongoing dialog. The site has now transitioned to Whitehouse.gov, and it reinforces the Obama Administration’s commitment to create the most open and accessible administration in our nation’s history.

We believe that the Obama Administration has an unprecedented opportunity to use open source to spark innovation and positive change. It won’t happen overnight, but all levels of government can make it happen if they work collaboratively and follow Obama’s rallying cry, “Yes, we can.”

The United States recently ushered in a new CIO for the federal government. President Obama has directed the CIO to “work to ensure that we are using the spirit of American innovation and the power of technology to improve performance and lower the cost of government operations.” Open source offers a compelling means to achieving these goals, harnessing the power of peer review and transparency of process and drawing on an ecosystem of thousands of developers and customers across the globe to drive innovation.

Healthcare IT presents an industry ripe for innovation and change. The new CIO appointment comes on the heels of the recent economic stimulus bill which includes legislation on healthcare IT that is of significant interest to the open source community.

An open source health IT system holds tremendous potential to improve the quality of the healthcare delivery system and make it more efficient. The current marketplace has had limited success in improving healthcare IT. Electronic Health Record (EHR) technology is a prime example. A July 2008 study in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that only 4% of physicians in the United States had a fully functional EHR, and 13% had a basic EHR. In addition, the study also found that 2/3 of physicians cited affordability as the key barrier to EHR adoption.

We wanted to highlight two specific items that were part of the Health IT language in the stimulus package. First, the National Coordinator for Health IT is empowered to support “the development and routine updating of qualified EHR technology.” The federal government has already developed an open source health IT system, VistA, that is in use today by many private hospitals. For example, Midland Memorial Hospital, one of just 33 hospitals nationally certified as HIMSS Analytics Stage 6 of EHR adoption, replaced its existing proprietary systems with an open-source solution based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux and VistA. We’re hopeful that the federal government will continue to adopt an open source approach to the development of any qualified EHR technology and welcome creative solutions to the problem, and the direct support of the National Coordinator should help move these efforts forward.

The second piece of HIT language in the stimulus bill calls for the funding of a study on the availability of open source health IT systems to be completed no later than Oct. 1, 2010. This includes comparing the total cost of ownership of open source to existing proprietary commercial products. Open source solutions deliver high value at a low cost and this study provides the opportunity for the open source community to demonstrate the value we’ve been delivering for years. Red Hat has helped organizations across the healthcare field lower IT costs while maintaining high system availability to enable enhanced patient care. This language is the first piece of ratified federal legislation that explicitly uses the terms “open source.”

The true power of open source software comes from the collaborative development model that empowers all users of the software to contribute to its development. An open source health IT system would help modernize and streamline the nation’s healthcare system. It could be freely adopted by any healthcare provider, vendor, or clinician, enabling greater deployment of electronic medical records. Providers and vendors would have a strong incentive to integrate open source software and focus their energies on software innovation and better service and support.

We believe that the U.S. government has made a step in the right direction by considering open source in the health IT language. Red Hat is an active supporter of these provisions and we look forward to continued progress in healthcare IT.

Red Hat’s government team today announced its new Government Advisory Board, a panel of public sector technology industry experts who will provide strategic advice to help the government team continue its rapid growth trend. The advisory board, which will meet on a quarterly basis, is comprised of a number of industry luminaries including S. Bradford Antle, Dr. Edward H. Bersoff, Dr. Renato “Renny” A. DiPentima, Jerry C. Harrison, Carleton S. Jones and Dendy Young.

Antle, president and CEO of SI International, has more than 20 years IT leadership experience. Dr. Bersoff serves as the president and CEO of ATS Corporation, a publicly traded IT company based in Virginia. Formerly CEO of SRA International Inc., Dr. DiPentima has been called a government IT industry “legend” by Federal Computer Week. Harrison is president and CEO of Athlone Global Security Corporation (AGS), an investment company focused on the homeland security industry. Jones serves as vice chairman for Indus Corp., a leading Federal IT solutions company and Young is currently CEO of McLean Capital, LLC, a private equity firm based in McLean, Va.

You can read more about Red Hat’s Government Advisory Board here.

North America

The VA Information Technology Connection 2008 (VA ITC) will take place from July 7-10 in National Harbor, Maryland. Come learn how Red Hat serves the government sector with Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) solutions, including the JBoss Enterprise Middleware suite. VA ITC 2008 highlights the establishment of a single Information Technology (IT) authority and the consolidation of multiple IT operational and development activities. This event supports the VA strategic initiative for IT and advances the realization of “One VA” from an IT perspective. Be a part of this unique and dynamic forum that encourages interaction between developers of applications, systems architects, users, security experts, other field operations support and associated business partners. Make sure to stop by and visit us at Booth #700 to see how Red Hat solutions can help your agency.

• July 8-10, 2008 VA ITC 2008, National Harbor, Maryland
• July 31, 2008 Symantec Government Symposium 2008, Washington, D.C.
• July 31, 2008 First Annual BRAC Day Educational Conference, Washington, D.C.

Save the Date:

The Red Hat Government Users & Developers Conference provides a forum for innovations and trends in open source technology, giving you the opportunity to hear stories from Red Hat customers and learn about our direction for the future.

When: October 7, 2008
Where: Ronald Reagan Building, Washington D.C.

For more information on Government events, please visit here.

For more information on North American events, visit here.

Greg DeKoenigsberg, senior community architect, will be presenting at the Palmetto Open Source Software Conference on July 30 in Columbia, SC. His presentation “Creating Value Through the Open Source Development Model,” will focus on how to utilize the open source development model to more effectively achieve goals.

The Fedora Team will be at the following events this July:

• July 4 Lindependence 2008, Felton, Calif.
• July 21-25 OSCON, Portland, Ore.
• July 23-26 Linux Symposium, Ottawa, Canada

To view international Fedora events, please visit here.

EMEA

• July 3 Java Forum 2008, Stuttgart, Germany
• July 7 The BSG JBoss User Group London, England
• July 10 UK Tech Forum London, England

See more EMEA events here.

APAC

• July 29 How to Manage Your Enterprise Linux Environment, Melbourne, Australia

For information on Red Hat’s APAC events, visit here.

Latin America

• Jul 19 Next Generation Solutions for the Enterprise, Argentina
• July 25, 26 The Developers Conference, São Paulo, Brazil
• July 27 Seminario Red Hat, Tilsor, Uruguay

For information on Red Hat’s events in Latin America, visit here.

Interested in speaking to Red Hat at or about one of these events? Email press@redhat.com.