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 Channel Futures

Open Source


Found: Another Profitable Open Source Company

  • Written by The VAR Guy 1
  • July 8, 2009
Alas, Red Hat is the only publicly held open source company that's consistently profitable. Finding privately held, profitable open source companies is like searching for the proverbial needle in the... well, you get the picture.

open-source-profitsAlas, Red Hat is the only publicly held open source company that’s consistently profitable. Finding privately held, profitable open source companies is like searching for the proverbial needle in the… well, you get the picture. But during a July 7 conference call, The VAR Guy stumbled onto a profitable, channel-driven open source company that’s making the leap from Europe to North America. Here’s the scoop.

First, a little background. Yes, Red Hat is solidly profitable thanks to growing sales of Red Hat Enterprise Linux and JBoss middleware. Rival Novell often generates profitable quarters but the profits are based on Novell’s complete software portfolio; the company’s SUSE Linux business is not yet consistently profitable, The VAR Guy hears.

Are there any other publicly held, profitable companies built around the open source model?

Bueller?

Bueller?

Private, But Profitable

Now let’s shift the discussion to privately held open source companies. Since they’re privately held it’s often impossible to determine whether they generate profits.

In recent months, The VAR Guy heard privately held xTuple — an open source ERP software provider that’s building a partner channel — is profitable. And now he’s got another example: Germany’s Sopera, which has so far declined venture funding because the company is profitable, according to Managing Director Ricco Deutscher.

Sopera positions its software as a service oriented architecture (SOA) platform, and the company’s partners include Deutsche Post, Eclipse, Microsoft, Novell and Oracle. Based in Bonn, Germany, Sopera plans to push deeper into the North American market, leveraging channel partners, real soon. (Stay tuned for details on that.)

In the meantime, Sopera’s Deutscher reinforces the statement “we’re profitable.”

Anybody Else?

The VAR Guy is struggling to determine which other companies — if any — from the Open Source 50 research report generate profits.

Certainly, businesses like Digium (promoter of the Asterisk open source IP PBX) and Alfresco (the open source alternative to SharePoint) are growing fast. But their privately held status makes it difficult to pinpoint whether they’re profitable today … and/or expect to be profitable soon.

So, The VAR Guy is all ears: Who else in the open source market is solidly profitable?

Follow The VAR Guy via RSS; Facebook; Identi.ca; Twitter; and via his Newsletter; Webcasts and Resource Center.

Tags: Agents Cloud Service Providers MSPs VARs/SIs New/Changing Channel Programs Open Source

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15 comments

  1. Avatar Kirsti Stien (kirstis) 's status on Wednesday, 08-Jul-09 19: July 8, 2009 @ 6:42 pm
    Reply

    […] http://www.thevarguy.com/2009/07/08/found-another-profitable-open-source-company/ […]

  2. Avatar Matt Asay July 8, 2009 @ 9:32 pm
    Reply

    OK, I’ll give you another: Alfresco. Growing fast, and growing prudently. Every day our cash balance grows.

  3. Avatar The VAR Guy July 8, 2009 @ 10:51 pm
    Reply

    Matt: The VAR Guy must concede… one reason he wrote this blog was to try and pull you/Alfresco into the conversation on profitability. Thanks for sharing the info.

    Our resident blogger realizes there’s a difference between (A) positive net income and (B) positive cash flow. Sounds like Alfresco definitely has positive cash flow. Fantastic to hear, especially as channel partners attempt to determine who’s for real in the open source space.

    Thanks again for weighing in, Matt. The Open Road remains required daily reading for The VAR Guy, as does your Twitter feed.

  4. Avatar Bill Miller July 9, 2009 @ 12:49 am
    Reply

    Digium has not been quiet on this front in the past. We have been profitable for the past 7 years….a pretty good track record for one of your Open Source 50 selections!

    …Bill

  5. Avatar The VAR Guy July 9, 2009 @ 1:19 am
    Reply

    Bill: Time for The VAR Guy to eat some more crow… something he has been doing frequently today. Thanks for jumping into the discussion. Our resident blogger looks forward to Astricon.

  6. Avatar Mascer July 9, 2009 @ 4:00 am
    Reply

    Zarafa? ^^

  7. Avatar Venkat July 9, 2009 @ 7:28 am
    Reply

    Actuate is another company that has been steadily growing its open source BIRT business.

  8. Avatar The VAR Guy July 9, 2009 @ 11:46 am
    Reply

    Mascer: Thanks for the note. But is that a question or an answer?

    Venkat: Nice to hear Actuate is “growing.” But does that mean Actuate is “profitable”?

    The VAR Guy welcomes your additional thoughts.

  9. Avatar jds July 10, 2009 @ 4:05 am
    Reply

    I am interested as a Linux user / supporter, in finding Linux company stock that I can invest in. I own RHT and NOVL..anyone else?
    good website!
    thanks

  10. Avatar Andrey July 10, 2009 @ 7:45 am
    Reply

    Please research Slackware. As far as I understand, it supports Patrick, his family, and possibly a few developers.

  11. Avatar Vibranze July 15, 2009 @ 8:35 am
    Reply

    How about Resolvo (www.resolvo.com)?

  12. Avatar The VAR Guy July 15, 2009 @ 1:24 pm
    Reply

    Vibranze: The VAR Guy must concede he’s not familiar with Resolvo but will give it a look.

  13. Avatar Vibranze July 23, 2009 @ 11:56 pm
    Reply

    Thanks The VAR Guy:)

  14. Avatar MeeGo for the Enterprise? Part 1: RIM Takes a Hit laquo; Tab August 5, 2010 @ 12:19 am
    Reply

    […] There are certainly exceptions to that broad allegation.  Red Hat is an oft-cited one.  So was MySQL even before (and likely the reason) Oracle snapped it up.  And the list definitely doesn#8217;t stop there (read the comments after this linked article).  […]

  15. Avatar subway double chocolate chip cookie recipe February 4, 2012 @ 3:59 am
    Reply

    Pretty nice post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I’ve really enjoyed browsing your blog posts. After all I will be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again very soon!

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