Red Hat seeks high-end VARs
Open source vendor gearing up to launch additional partner accreditation
Ambitious open source vendor Red Hat is on the last leg of its race to push 70 per cent of its business through the channel and is gearing up to launch an additional partner accreditation.
Red Hat currently works with two levels of partners: entry level Ready Partners, and higher-touch Advanced Partners. Last year it rolled out its Certified Service Provider Programme (CSPP) in the US, aimed at higher level integrators and VARs, and is now bringing the level to Europe.
Hitesh Patel, business partner manager UK and Ireland at Red Hat, said: “We are currently 60 per cent indirect and this next level of accreditation will help us bridge the delta. Red Hat is looking for longer-term engagements with customers around virtualisation and migration, and looking to forward these opportunities onto partners.”
Patel said there is an entry fee to the CSPP and it is by invitation only.
Clive Longbottom, service director at Quocirca, said: “There are only two players in the Linux market – Novell and Red Hat. The only way they can make money is to have a model based around subscription sales and to go through the channel.
“A direct model doesn’t make sense for either player. It is very unlikely that an end-user will come to the vendor for their operating system and then to a partner for everything else – they are going to want to deal with their existing channel partners.”