Hyperic Enlists Partners For Open-Source App Management

Open source and cloud computing are hot today, so its no surprise Hyperic, which plays in both technology spaces, says it's having good luck recruiting solution providers to the channel program it launched in October. The company said its partner ecosystem now accounts for 30 percent of its sales and that number is growing.

Even the tough economic climate may be aiding Hyperic. The company develops open-source tools for monitoring and managing the performance of Web applications, including those deployed on premise or hosted through cloud-computing systems. Jeff Santelices, Hyperic business development vice president, said companies are trying to control their IT operating costs, and that's boosting demand for Hyperic's software.

Hyperic has recruited partners ranging from ISVs developing proprietary and open-source software that work with Hyperic's product, managed service providers, "boutique" resellers and regional systems integrators. Solution providers recently enlisted in the program include Openwater Solutions and Archer Systems in the U.S.; Domino IT, Sopera Gmbh and Dalet in Europe; ICE Systems in Australia; and Innovate Digital in China.

St. Charles, Ill.-based Openwater resells the commercial enterprise version of Hyperic's software and also offers the free open-source version, charging fees for maintenance and support, said president Jeff Parker. Openwater has worked with Hyperic for about two years, using the company's software to expand beyond its traditional network management service offerings into application management. "I really appreciate their business model," he said, referring to the range of opportunities created by the fact Hyperic offers both open-source and commercial versions of its product.

Federal and local government, national security and public health organizations are adopting open-source technologies and Hyperic is providing Archer Systems, of Herndon, Va., with a solution to expand into those markets, said CEO Jennifer Miller.

Santelices said the most successful partners in its program are those that focus on IT infrastructure projects and have some familiarity with open-source technologies.

The channel program launched in October covers four categories of partners: resellers, solution providers who provide referrals to Hyperic, service providers who offer Hyperic as part of a hosted solution, and software OEMs who embed Hyperic within their product. The latter includes Sun Microsystems' MySQL database and Red Hat's JBoss application server.