Opengear, Assisted by VARs, Doubles Open Source Business
According to some news that will likely surface the week of Aug. 24, Opengear has:
- Doubled its sales since this time in 2008
- Increased its staff by 30 percent
What recession? Those two words summarize the mood within Opengear, which has doubled its open source console server market business since this time last year. And yes, the channel played a significant role in that success, The VAR Guy has learned. Here’s the scoop.
According to some news that will likely surface the week of Aug. 24, Opengear has:
- Doubled its sales since this time in 2008
- Increased its staff by 30 percent
- Lined up some big-name clients, including the University of Illinois Data Center
Impressive. But there’s a bigger-picture story here. An opengear spokesman says the company’s growing sales are “in large part because of partners and the channel.” Not by coincidence, Opengear’s partner program started to gain critical mass in April 2009.
Opengear isn’t alone. Many open source companies continue to push deeper into the IT channel, according to The VAR Guy’s annual Open Source 50 report.
Is open source dominating the IT channel? Certainly not. Much of the channel seems to remain very loyal to Microsoft-centric solutions. But the open source pockets of success are growing — as Opengear proves.
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Opengear is for real. We started partnering with them five months ago after another company I won’t mention didn’t honor some deals we registered. I especially like Opengear’s corporate culture and the fact that they pick up the phone when I call.
My only concern is whether Opengear will expand its partner program too fast, which may harm early partners like us. Have they indicated how many partners they currently have and how many they intend to add over the next year?
Thank you for any additional information you can offer.
JT
[…] Opengear, Assisted by VARs, Doubles Open Source Business: #8220;What recession? Those two words summarize the mood within Opengear, which has doubled its open source console server market business since this time last year. And yes, the channel played a significant role in that success, The VAR Guy has learned. Here#8217;s the scoop. Opengear has: […]