SEP is Red Hat's "Independent Software Vendor of the Year"

05/18/2010

Red Hat Strengthens Partner Ecosystem at EMEA Partner  Summit 2010 Annual EMEA partner event highlights open source cloud computing, virtualization and middleware

Red Hat (NYSE: RHT), the worlds leading provider of open source solutions, today announced that attendance at its EMEA Partner Summit 2010, which took place in Valencia last week, topped past years participation. Delegates at the three-day conference attended product and strategy updates, technical workshops, knowledge-sharing opportunities, and, for the first time, participated in onsite certification opportunities as part of Red Hat s industry-leading certification program.

In addition to the conference agenda, Red Hat honoured a select group of partners from across the EMEA region with awards; recognising their successes and commitment to the Red Hat partner ecosystem. A new award category, The Stronger Together Award, was introduced to celebrate partners which not only contributed to greater customer satisfaction, but also are effectively paving the way to a wider use of Red Hat solutions in the enterprise. The following categories and winners were recognised at this years event

• Distributor of the Year : Copaco, Netherlands
• Infrastructure Partner of the Year : Kelway, UK
• Middleware Partner of the Year: Viada GmbH, Germany
• Stronger Together Award 1 : Bull, France
• Stronger Together Award 2 : Obsidian, South Africa
• Independent Software Vendor of the Year : SEP, Germany

"It is an honour to receive the Independent Software Vendor of the Year 2010 award which recognises SEP s close relationship with Red Hat and its role in the partner ecosystem. The annual EMEA Partner Summit provides SEP with the opportunity to connect with other ISVs and System Integrator partners and stay ahead in an ever-changing market. The summit plays a vital role in our yearly business development strategy,” said Hubert Schweinesbein, Director Partner Sales EMEA, SEP AG.

Summit delegates were updated on the latest developments for Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization and how it can be deployed in an open source stack. Additionally, partners heard from experts on how to develop new routes to markets and extend their solutions with Red Hat s solution portfolio. Attendees also discussed the positioning of open source software and how Red Hat support services can help increase their value proposition when interacting with customers.

During the Summit, Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst addressed attending partners during his keynote called The Open Source Opportunity, where he shared his vision of how open source is meeting the demands of IT today and providing a faster, better and lower cost alternative to proprietary software models. He also highlighted the widespread adoption of cloud computing, which together with virtualization, represents one of Red Hat s key strategic areas.

Scott Crenshaw, Vice President and General Manager, Cloud Computing Business Unit at Red Hat, delivered his keynote entitled Cloud Computing: Transforming Information Technology. Mr. Crenshaw remarked: “Cloud computing is changing the IT landscape and Red Hat is helping more enterprises move to the cloud. Red Hat is working with its partners in an effort to reduce business risks associated with cloud computing. Harnessing the cloud s operational flexibility requires a secure, scalable and robust foundational virtualization layer and Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization is emerging as one of the enterprise-class products of choice for cloud adoption.”

“Our partnership with Red Hat has helped us to develop and maintain excellent service for our customers. In addition to their robust, proven business model and the support provided to channel partners, Red Hat has an enterprise-class solutions portfolio that has enabled us to grow and expand our business,” said Jeremy Comley, Head of marketing, LinuxIT Europe Ltd.

Red Hat s JBoss Enterprise Middleware portfolio has emerged as an enterprise standard for building, deploying and integrating applications. The middleware sessions enabled partners to learn how the JBoss Open Choice application platform strategy provides the greatest level of flexibility for application developers. Partners looking for help accelerating their business attended sessions demonstrating JBoss Enterprise Middleware as the foundation for Platform-as-a-Service and cloud-based computing.

"For Viada GmbH, JBoss Enterprise Middleware represents a compelling opportunity for growth in the middleware market. We see open source enterprise-class middleware from Red Hat increasingly being accepted and trusted by customers who are looking to migrate away from proprietary alternatives at a rapid pace. We are confident that our strong and trusted partnership with Red Hat will enable us to grow and expand business opportunities in the future," said Daniel Braunsdorf, CEO, Viada GmbH.

"It was a pleasure for Ingres to support the Red Hat EMEA Partner Summit as one of the two Premium Sponsors and to promote our joint software stack. Our expectations have been more than achieved with this well run event, "said Bertram Mandel, MD Ingres Germany, VP Global Alliances & Partners.

“The downturn in the economy contributed to increased interest in open source and cloud computing. Red Hat continues to offer the benefits of open source to an ever-changing market, striving to help equip enterprises with the training and information necessary to offer better solutions and higher value,” said Petra Heinrich, VP, Partners & Alliances, EMEA at Red Hat. “Our partners and customers are taking advantage of the opportunities presented by cloud computing, virtualization and middleware to present more efficient ways to reduce costs, drive innovation and improve business agility.”