Perforce Competes with Open Source Version Control Through 20/20 Program

Perforce, which provides version management and document collaboration solutions for the enterprise, says working together within the channel can level the playing field between large organizations and small startups. That's the message in the company's report this week on the first year of its 20/20 Program, which promotes use of Perforce products by small companies.

By participating in the 20/20 Program, organizations receive no-cost license options for accessing the full suite of Perforce software for up to 20 users or workspaces. They also gain free technical support.

Perforce bills the 20/20 Program, which it launched a year ago, as a way for startups to leverage the benefits of enterprise-class collaboration and versioning software without breaking their tight budgets. According to Christohper Weiwald, Perforce CEO, "We first launched Perforce in my garage, so we remember what it’s like to be a start-up. Our 20/20 Program helps young companies build a strong base on which to grow their businesses. We are thrilled to see how many companies have taken advantage of our 20/20 offering since we started it little more than a year ago."

Perforce did not provide an exact figure for the number of companies that have participated in the program, but says it "has helped thousands of startups and smaller businesses benefit from the same, full-featured version management used by many of the world’s largest software companies."

The 20/20 Program is a smart way for Perforce to spread its influence across the channel. It's especially important given that many of the products with which the company competes—such as the subversion and git revision-control platforms—are completely free and open source. By offering value-added access to its own versioning software and other products, along with commercial support, at no cost, the company makes its software much more attractive to small but growing organizations.

Perforce also seeks a leg up against open source alternatives by offering its software free, with no limits on the number of users or workspaces, for use within open source projects and by academic institutions. That's another prime example of leveraging channel collaboration to beat competition with non-existent pricing.

Organizations can register for the Perforce 20/20 Program anytime on the company's website.