Open Source: OpenERP Takes Channel Partner Program Global

Open source isn’t anything new in the channel. But an open source ERP suite provided by a 100% channel company that offers its resellers 90% margins across the board? That’s got The VAR Guy's interest. And now OpenERP has announced they’ve signed up partners in 17 new countries -- and opened their first US outpost in Silicon Valley. Here are some details.

Matthew Weinberger

September 27, 2010

2 Min Read
Open Source: OpenERP Takes Channel Partner Program Global

openerp

Open source isn’t anything new in the channel. But an open source ERP suite provided by a 100% channel company that offers its resellers 90% margins across the board? That’s got The VAR Guy’s interest. And now OpenERP has announced they’ve signed up partners in 17 new countries — and opened their first US outpost in Silicon Valley. Here are some details.

OpenERP’s namesake suite, according to their press release, is a “a comprehensive management application suite which covers a wide range of functional areas.” That same press release indicates that it can be deployed on premise or from the cloud.

Moreover, they say that as an open source product, OpenERP has gotten rid of software license fees, reducing costs all around. Instead, OpenERP seems to see huge potential for its partners to customize the suite for differing customer needs.

As for the new announcements, OpenERP now has partners in South Africa, Sweden, Romania, Croatia, China, Mexico, Peru, Tunisia, Nigeria, Cameroon, and more, unnamed countries. And OpenERP says it’s expanding its presence in the USA with new partners to go with their new Silicon Valley office.

The VAR Guy has a hunch this isn’t the last we’ve heard of OpenERP — open source remains an important part of the IT channel, and we’ll keep tracking it.

Still, it’s important to keep the competitive landscape in perspective.

  • In the traditional closed-source markets, both Oracle and SAP continue to expand their channel efforts.

  • In the SaaS market, companies like NetSuite and Salesforce.com enjoy growing momentum, and NetSuite seems be catching on with channel partners.

  • In the open source market, companies like Compiere, OpenBravo and xTuple have made clear commitments to channel partners. All three of those companies landed on The VAR Guy’s Open Source 50, which tracks the most promising open source channel partner programs.

We’ll be watching to see if OpenERP competes successfully, leveraging channel partners, against those rivals.

Additional reporting by Joe Panettieri. Sign up for The VAR Guy’s Weekly NewsletterWebcasts and Resource Center; and via RSS; Facebook;   Identi.ca; Twitter and VARtweet.

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