HP Ships Red Hat PC in Australia

HP and Red Hat have announced a new low-cost Linux desktop bundle for small and medium businesses in Australia.

HP will sell its AMD-based Compaq dx2250 PC pre-loaded with Red Hat's Enterprise Linux 5 desktop.

HP is a long-time supporter of Linux on its server range, but by offering the open source operating system on the desktop makes it the first tier-1 manufacturer to do so for the local market.

The move also comes after rival Dell began offering PC's pre-loaded with Ubuntu Linux earlier this year. However, Dell is yet to announce the Linux option for Australian customers.

HP Australia's personal systems group product marketing manager, Rob Kingston, said local businesses are "constantly demanding" enhancements to the price-performance delivered by their desktop PC.

"By working with Red Hat, HP now delivers the business-class technology of the HP dx2250 combined with an open and low-cost operating system to support the commercial objectives of small and medium businesses," he said.

The HP Compaq dx2250 business desktop PC is the latest addition to HP's range of AMD-based business PCs.

Pricing begins at $600 and the PC is available now through HP resellers.

Red Hat Australia and New Zealand general manager Max McLaren said the collaboration is significant because it represents the first "truly attractive and affordable alternative" to other products available for SMBs. "With the cost of proprietary systems continuing to rise, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Desktop minimizes acquisition and ongoing deployment costs, leaving more money and resources for other high-value projects and tasks," McLaren said.

AMD Australia and New Zealand business development manager Darryl Leong said the company has always been at the "forefront" of embracing the open source community.

"AMD's agreement with HP and Red Hat is further evidence of our commitment to all open source platforms and operating systems," he said, adding the initiative between AMD, HP, and Red Hat is a smarter choice.

Red Hat will offer different levels of support for its operating system.