Channel welcomes Red Hat

By Candice Jones, ITWeb online telecoms editor

Johannesburg, 12 Jun 2008

Commercial open source software (OSS) vendor Red Hat has opened a South African office, which will be headed by Louis Seyffert.

Paul Holt, EMEA regional director at Red Hat, says there has been strong demand for open source skills and methodologies in the local market.

"Red Hat has reached a stage in its lifecycle where it is ready to expand into emerging markets with an on-the-ground presence. Similarly, we believe the South African market has matured sufficiently for Red Hat to warrant a local investment," he adds.

Until now, Linux Warehouse was the sole distributor of Red Hat products in SA.

Channel implications

The Red Hat channel model consists of global OEM partners and local distributors selling to authorised Red Hat resellers, with one of the big names being Obsidian Systems.

Linux Warehouse says it does not foresee any channel-based conflict with Red Hat. "Red Hat may engage directly with end-customers and reseller partners; however, it will continue to serve the existing channel," says Linux Warehouse GM Riaan van Niekerk.

Van Niekerk says Seyffert has already engaged with Linux Warehouse, and several partner meetings and customer visits have been scheduled. "There is no channel conflict, as is the case with IT vendors that compete with their channel partners for the same business."

Seyffert confirms the local office will support the current channel model. "By working closely with all players in the South African IT ecosystem, Red Hat can drive the success of both its own business and of open source in SA."

Commercial model

According to Seyffert, he will also focus on continued revenue growth for the company. "I will be driving the open source commercial model to ensure business gets the right level of service." The commercial model is based on a service subscription, not licence fees, for implemented software.

Seyffert says Red Hat's official entry into SA comes at a time when things are truly looking positive for Linux and open source in the country. "There is a wide move from traditional proprietary models, such as Unix and Windows systems, to OSS locally.

"Businesses are now more confident that OSS can be maintained, supported and secured, which is one of the adoption drivers locally," he notes. "Companies are also starting to understand the cost savings of using OSS."

Growing market

According to Frost & Sullivan ICT analyst Lindsey Mc Donald, while it may be impossible to gauge the exact penetration of the software, SA's OSS market is doing well. The distribution culture of open source makes it difficult to measure the current value of the market, she adds.

Frost & Sullivan says government initiatives, such as free and open source software and minimum interoperability standards, have created a more positive perception of OSS in business.

More large enterprises are seeing the benefits of open standards and software and are implementing them, she says. "FNB, in 2007, migrated 13 000 desktops to open source." Companies like Pick n Pay and Nando's also run OSS.

Red Hat has around 2 200 employees in over 50 offices worldwide, including several emerging markets, such as China, Brazil and India.