Hewlett-Packard has begun selling new workstations using Intel's Itanium 2 processor and a new higher-end version of Red Hat Linux, company executives said Monday.

Red Hat had planned to release its Advanced Workstation product in the first half of 2003, but accelerated the schedule as part of an expanded alliance, said Mike Evans, vice president of business development at Red Hat.

The alliance shows what companies can--and often will--do to push mainstream acceptance for new technologies. Linux, a clone of the venerable Unix operating system, has emerged in recent years as a viable contender to Windows and Unix in some markets but still isn't as well established. The Itanium line, meanwhile, is a completely different design from other Intel processors and software companies are just beginning to support it.

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