DotNetNuke Gains Channel Partner Momentum

DotNetNuke, which makes an open source content management system, seems to be gaining traction with channel partners. The company, which supports Microsoft .NET environments, has gone from zero to about 50 VARs and hosting providers in the past year, according to The VAR Guy’s ongoing Open Source 50 survey. Here are the details.

Founded in 2006, DotNetNuke‘s platform helps businesses to develop and deploy web sites and related applications. The San Mateo, Calif.-based company didn’t have much of a channel presence or partner program in 2008. But that gradually began to change in 2009.

DotNetNuke now generates roughly 30 percent of its revenues through channel partners; the company’s partner ecosystem includes roughly 48 VARs, integrators and hosting partners; nearly 800 ISVs (independent software vendors); and the start of an OEM (original equipment manufacturer) effort. Internally, DotNetNuke has grown to about 30 employees, up from roughly 5 in 2008.

The data points were culled from The VAR Guy’s second annual Open Source 50 survey, which tracks the world’s most promising open source partner programs. (The survey concludes March 31, with complete results to debut in Q2 2010.)

DotNetNuke says it signed nearly 500 paying customers in 2009. And in a prepared statement, President and CEO Navin Nagiah says DotNetNuke exceeded its commercial expectations in 2009.

Familiar Claims

Plenty of open source companies are making similar claims. In recent FastChat videos with The VAR Guy, executives from Alfresco, Digium, Compiere, Ingres, Jaspersoft, Pentaho, SugarCRM and Zimbra (recently acquired by VMware) all pointed to significant growth involving the IT channel.

Still, it’s important to keep the open source IT channel’s progress in perspective. Many open source companies have only a few dozen partners. And in many cases, channel partner programs are rudimentary at best. Plus, it’s difficult to track the profitability tied to open source solutions, since so many open source application providers are privately held.

The VAR Guy will share some more perspectives as more data flows into the ongoing Open Source 50 survey. And a complete report will debut in Q2 2010.