I found out that cpq is shipping linux on their hardware.
Also a new version of linux is being released. This is worth watching.
Linux pecking order emerges
The most successful Linux vendors are quickly learning how to play corporate hard ball.
By Ben Elgin, Sm@rt Reseller Online
While Linux may be entrenched in a grassroots development model all its own, the most successful Linux vendors are quickly learning how to play corporate hard ball.
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Perhaps none has been as corporate savvy as de facto market leader Red Hat Software Inc., and its president Bob Young. By vigorously seeding the desktop OS market and gleaning high-profile corporate investments from Intel Corp. and Netscape Communications Corp., Red Hat has parlayed the increased mindshare into big-time opportunities in the server OS market.
Big fish, small pond?
Indeed, according to sources close to the company, Red Hat has inked a pending deal with Compaq Computer Corp. to bundle its Linux OS with the hardware vendor's servers. According to published reports Compaq will serve up 24x7 support for the Linux products.
"CIOs want known names. Red Hat Linux on [Linux hardware vendor] VA Research doesn't cut it.... [But] Red Hat on Compaq would be huge," says International Data Corp. research manager William Peterson.
While this coup propels Red Hat decisively to the front of the U.S. Linux market, it was never a no-brainer. After all, competitor Caldera Inc. has long touted its high-end server OS offerings over a desktop push, writing off Red Hat as merely a big fish in a small pond.
But give Red Hat boss Bob Young credit--this is a strategy he has been expounding upon for months. "Red Hat is not a desktop company... Our goal is to seed the server market with our desktop product," Young told Sm@rt Reseller last month.
Few Channel wins--so far
While garnering consumer and corporate mindshare has been critical to Red Hat's success, few of its wins were accomplished through the channel.
On the surface, all Linux vendors claim to have a huge interest staked in resellers and integrators. But Caldera's channel program runs circles around those from Red Hat, S.u.S.E. Inc., and Pacific HiTech--a company in the midst of inking its own deal with Compaq in Japan.
In addition to having the lion's share of VAR partners, Caldera is also aggressively ramping up a training and certification program. By next year, Caldera expects to run at least half of its sales through its channel partners, say company officials.
While the channel variable may take longer to impact the market-share equation, Red Hat is hedging its bets as well. Indeed, Young confirmed that he is in talks with top-tier distributors like Ingram Micro to expand their relationship beyond the desktop space. For the past two months, Ingram Micro has hawked Red Hat Linux 5.2 to retail locations. Now, the companies are exploring an expanded relationship to tap into Ingram's army of resellers.
Young declined to give specifics on the potential deal, and Ingram Micro officials declined to comment.
But just where does that leave Red Hat's competitors? Most likely scrambling to follow its corporate lead.
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