7 Surprises At Red Hat Partner Conference 2014
Red Hat's 2014 channel partner conference will include hybrid cloud, distribution, and guest speaker surprises. Here's a preview from The VAR Guy.
January 4, 2014
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Red Hat Partner Summit 2014 Preview
Yes, CompTIA will be in the house. The channel-focused association and Red Hat have a close working relationship, thanks to Channel Chief Roger Egan. Building on that relationship, Gary Bixler, a CompTIA Authorized Channel Instructor and founder of Bixler Enterprises, will offer Red Hat partners some
Google Cloud Platform and Amazon Web Services executives are set to address Red Hat Partner Conference attendees on Jan. 13 in Arizona. No doubt, the keynotes will seek to ensure Linux resellers understand how to move customer workloads into the Google and AWS public clouds, respectively.
Red Hat Global Channel Chief Mark Enzweiler needs to nudge partners along. Many now support Linux and virtualization. But Red Hat's cloud tools remain a mystery to many partners. Enzweiler needs to motivate movement and learning among the partner base.
Cisco Systems, HP and IBM executives each will address the audience. Dell executives also will be on hand. Red Hat partners closely in the server market with each of those companies. But can we expect any OpenStack and hybrid cloud surprises? The VAR Guy sure thinks so… Oh, and one more thing: Listen closely for how Red Hat may fit into each company's SDN (software defined networking) strategy.
Oberoi leads Red Hat's global sales — roughly 60 percent of which involve partners. He'll need to assure attendees that Red Hat's consulting and direct sales teams won't trample partners amid the rush Open Hybrid Cloud customers.
The former Delta COO has done a great job since joining Red Hat as CEO in 2007. Organic R&D and acquisitions have pushed the company beyond its Linux roots. But Whitehurst needs to prove that Red Hat — a sub-$2 billion company — can compete with cloud and software giants like Microsoft, Oracle and VMware.
Cormier needs to put all of Red Hat's puzzle pieces together for partners. Yes, the big-picture strategy is Open Hybrid Cloud. But how do puzzle pieces like Linux, virtualization, storage, OpenShift, Openstack and CloudForms snap together to form that bigger picture? Cormier needs to offer clear updates.
At first glance, companies like Avnet Technology Solutions, Ingram Micro, Tech Data and Synnex are old-school distributors. But take a closer look and you'll see that each company now offers customers mobile, vertical market and cloud solutions from which to choose. Plus, vertical market distributors are helping VARs to engage government customers. Sounds great. But is this Linux-only story. Or — finally — something more?
At first glance, companies like Avnet Technology Solutions, Ingram Micro, Tech Data and Synnex are old-school distributors. But take a closer look and you'll see that each company now offers customers mobile, vertical market and cloud solutions from which to choose. Plus, vertical market distributors are helping VARs to engage government customers. Sounds great. But is this Linux-only story. Or — finally — something more?
Red Hat Partner Conference 2014, one of The VAR Guy’s Top 100 Technology Events, will include hybrid cloud, distribution, and guest speaker surprises from such companies as Google and Amazon. Look above-right to scan photos and captions.
Overall, Red Hat had a strong 2013, but the company needs to further accelerate its momentum beyond Linux. Yes, Red Hat Storage, OpenStack, KVM (kernel-based virtual machine) and other technologies are off to promising starts. But big-time competition — from Microsoft Cloud OS Network, VMware Software Defined Data Centers and even Oracle Linux — looms around every corner.
So what new surprises does Red Hat have in store? Some answers emerge in this slide show…
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