Open Source Channel Partner Programs Show Progress
The VAR Guy doesn't want to give away the full story -- not yet, at least. But preliminary research results for this year's Open Source 50 survey reveal the following:
It’s still too early for open source application providers to declare victory in the IT channel. But a growing number of open source application providers — from Alfresco to Zimbra — continue to gain momentum with VARs and solutions providers. Here are the details.
The VAR Guy doesn’t want to give away the full story — not yet, at least. But preliminary research results for this year’s Open Source 50 survey reveal the following:
- Companies like Alfresco (enterprise content management) and Zimbra (email, recently acquired by VMware) now generate roughly 60 percent of their revenue from channel partners and OEMs. In fact, Zimbra now has more than 1,000 channel partners.
- Other companies, such as Pentaho (business intelligence) have more than doubled their partner bases in the past year.
- Emerging companies like Open-Xchange are recruiting new executives to help accelerate SaaS partner pushes.
The second-annual Open Source 50 survey closes April 16, with complete results to be announced in May 2010. The survey seeks to track the most promising open source partner programs.
Reality Check
Despite the progress points above, it’s important to keep open source opportunities in perspective. Distributor-led efforts — like the Open Source Channel Alliance from Synnex and Open Tech from Tech Data — are off to gradual but respectable starts.
While some VARs understand the basics of Linux, most of the IT channel has yet to master open source ERP, CRM and other application-centric options.
The VAR Guy will be back with more Open Source 50 analysis as the survey results come into focus.
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