Red Hat Chairman, CEO and President Matthew J Szulik is on a India visit next week to share Red Hat's vision and plans for India. The 3-day visit, from January 21 to 23, widely is expected to boost the adoption of open source software and accelerate the movement in India.

Szulik is visiting the country for the first time and will be visiting Delhi and also the financial and tech capital cities of Mumbai and Bangalore, respectively. He will be addressing a media forum in Mumbai on January 22, 2004, where he'll provide guidance on Linux as the way of the future and will be making clear to his audience that India is positioned "on the expressway" in adopting open source software.

The announced visit comes hard on the heels of Monday's announcement that the Raleigh, N.C.-based company had raised $600 million through a bond offering.

Since that brings Red Hat's cash reserves up to a staggering $1 billion, increasing its international footprint is bound to be next on Szulik's agenda, and - presumably - India features strongly in his plans.

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