Red Hat, Synnex Enlist Open-Source ISVs for Midmarket Channel Push

On Tuesday, Red Hat introduced the Open Source Channel Alliance, a group of 9 open-source ISVs that have signed distribution deals with Synnex to bring a wide range of applications to market through the distributor's network of VARs and integrators.

Roger Egan, vice president of North American Channels for Red Hat, said the goal of the alliance is to extend the flexibility and cost savings of open-source software to a broader audience, as well as to move from a point-product focus to one more attuned with what he defined as "solution stacks."

Founding members of the Open Source Channel Alliance include: Alfresco (content management), EnterpriseDB (database), Ingres (database), Jaspersoft (business intelligence), Likewise (identity management), Pentaho (business intelligence), Zmanda (backup and recovery), Zenoss (network and systems monitoring) and Zimbra (e-mail and calendar groupware).

"We've come to learn that we have jewels in the relationships we've nurtured with open-source ISVs," Egan said. "We're trying to take our relationships and knowledge of channel and extend that to them."

In leading the Open Source Channel Alliance, Red Hat naturally wants to sell more of its Enterprise Linux and JBoss Enterprise Middleware. But according to Egan, the effort also reflects Red Hat's desire to raise its profile in the midmarket. Red Hat has aligned half of its North American sales organization with the midmarket, but sees the channel as the key to uncovering more opportunities.

As evidence of this commitment, Red Hat has grown its channel from 700 to 1,500 partners, and 55 percent of the company's revenue currently goes through channel partners. By hooking up with Synnex, Raleigh, N.C.-based Red Hat hopes to reach new types of partners and eventually boost that figure to 70 percent, Egan said.

"It's one of the strategic imperatives for us to become a channel-centric company. We don't want to be caught in that 55 percent range," Egan said. "We have the opportunity to grow our channel rather substantially. But the only way it'll grow is by us speaking the language of solutions as opposed to technology."

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