Source of joy for channel
The whole public sector bidding process is about to get a lot more interesting by the looks of things.
Yirrell: Public sector deals may open up to new players
Last week, the government unveiled a nine-point action plan to accelerate open-source adoption in the sector, which will without doubt affect the way resellers tender for contracts.
One of the points in the government plan states that suppliers will have to show that open-source products have been considered as at least part of a proposed solution.
The UK public sector has long been considered a laggard when it comes to open-source adoption, compared to some of our European neighbours. But it looks like this is all set to change.
Indeed many private sector firms seem to have embraced the open-source revolution.
While this news will be seen as a nightmare for the proprietary software suppliers who have had the public sector sewn up over the years, it could give others a bite of the cherry.
This could mean a bonanza for channel players that have relentlessly kept on investing time, faith and money in open-source technology, hoping for a day like this to come.
It would also encourage more collaboration in the channel, as many of the large suppliers may not have the open-source specialism needed to fulfil the new-style contracts.
Hopefully it can be turned into a win-win situation for all involved.
Sara Yirrell is editor of CRN