Kusnetzky Leaves IDC For Wide, Open-Xchange

Open-Xchange makes an open-source e-mail system that competes with Microsoft Exchange and other commercial offerings. The Tarrytown, N.Y. company has a long-standing relationship with Novell (via an even LONGER-running relationship with SUSE) and a more recent rapport with Red Hat.

Reporters, vendors and integrators know Dan as a "good quote man" with solid knowledge of Linux opportunities and related matters.

In an e-mail message to CRN Kusnetzky he said "organizations are trying to cut costs at almost any cost" and must also be able to collaborate from just about anywhere using just about any type of device and all of this needs to happen in real time."

Integrators, VARs, disties et al. "are feeling the impact of these trends themselves and are observing their clients react as well," he wrote.

"They're much more likely to be able to present a winning proposal if 1: they're able to offer collaborative applications at low price; 2: the solutions are built on open, extensible platforms.and 3: the solution must be able to deal with staff working from home using a Treo 650, on the road using a Nokia 770, or even at their desk."

In other words, they need more than Windows-based collaboration.