Red Hat EMEA Press Center

March 13, 2025
Red Hat Announces Roadmap for Channel Strategy and Programs
Red Hat invests in people, systems, process and programs to enable broader adoption of open source on a global basis.
SAN FRANCISCO – March 13, 2025 – Red Hat (NYSE: RHT), the worlds leading provider of open source solutions, today announced that it has significantly expanded its global channel programs, taking on a more collaborative approach with global partners to focus on joint success. The programs will enable partners to develop deeper relationships with customers, improve margins and take advantage of new revenue opportunities with open source. Red Hats JBoss offerings will play a key role in enabling Channel Partners by providing them with the ability to offer a broader set of Open Source solutions to solve customer problems. New channel programs include a robust Partner Program, Certified Service Provider Program and enhanced Red Hat Partner Portal.

In the past six months, Red Hat has put global emphasis on building the channel by establishing channel development leadership around the world. Mark Enzweiler, former channel leader at Lenovo, joined Red Hat to lead North American Channel Sales in October 2006. Petra Heinrich, formerly of Novell, was appointed to develop the channel in Europe in January 2007. Most recently Masatsugu Koketsu, former Sun executive, joined the Red Hat Japan team in February 2007 to lead channel development. This newly appointed global leadership will enable Red Hat and its partners to tap into the tremendous opportunity for open source solutions and services.

IDC predicts that the growth opportunity for the Linux ecosystem, including hardware, packaged software and services aboard the Linux operating system will grow from a $15 billion opportunity in 2005 to over $40 billion in 2010. (Source: IDC, Virtualization 2.0: The Next Phase in Customer Adoption, Doc #204904, Dec 2006).

“Red Hat is redefining value for customers with open source as the enabler. Weve redesigned our channel strategy in close collaboration with global partners in an effort to dial partners into the rapid growth opportunities for the Red Hat Enterprise Linux platform, JBoss middleware solutions, management and services,” said Mark Enzweiler, Vice President of Channel Sales at Red Hat. “Customers will benefit from streamlined processes that will make open source technology easier to consume than ever and have more choices for efficient procurement.”

Red Hat now offers its partners a central point of contact in EMEA. The newly established partner helpdesk offers them intensive support in their mother tongue. It can be reached under partner-helpdesk@redhat.com. The new channel programs and features will be available soon around the world. Advantages include:

Partner Investment. Red Hat is increasing its focus on Business Partners who are committed to Open Source, with its new Global Partner Program that will include: Leads for qualified partners, training benefits for RHCE and RHCA, ability to participate in Marketing Development Funds (MDF) programs for demand generation as well as other benefits for participating partners. These benefits represent a 3-fold increase in value over prior years.

Certified Service Provider Program. Announced in January 2007, the Certified Service Provider Program (CSP) is a global, invitation-only partnership. The program is designed to encourage the growth of open source service practices through collaboration between Red Hat Global Professional Services and service-oriented channel partners with open source expertise and resources.

Red Hat Partner Portal. Red Hats Partner Portal is a source for sales and marketing tools. Here Red Hat provides partners with a repository of online trainings on the whole Red Hat/JBoss product portfolio up to certification as Red Hat Certified Sales. In addition partners get access to the technical Knowledge Base, which includes information on all Red Hat solutions.

JBoss Systems Integrator Program: The program offers JBoss partners a seamless move to Red Hat’s partner program. Participants profit from attractive training and certification offerings. In addition Red Hat offers them comprehensive technical support. Beyond marketing support and lead generation the program offers a series of benefits like the shared use of reference customers and a discounted access to Red Hat Professional Services.

“As a leading force in the open source marketplace, Red Hat’s expanded channel program will be extremely valuable to IT resellers capitalizing on the demand for Linux and other open source solutions,” said Mike Trup, Chairman, Interactive Ideas. “Red Hat is demonstrating its commitment to the channel by investing in resources, infrastructure and programs designed to help resellers grow their business. Tech Data is excited about this opportunity to further strengthen our successful relationship with Red Hat.”

For more information on these and other Red Hat Partner programs, please visit: https://redhat-techworld.com

About Red Hat, Inc.

Red Hat, the world’s leading open source solutions provider, is headquartered in Raleigh, NC with satellite offices spanning the globe. CIOs rank Red Hat the most valuable software vendor three years running in the CIO Insight Magazine Vendor Value study. Red Hat is leading Linux and open source solutions into the mainstream by making high-quality, low-cost technology accessible. Red Hat provides an operating system platform, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, along with applications, management, and middleware solutions, including JBoss Enterprise Middleware Suite. Red Hat is accelerating the shift to service-oriented architectures and enabling the next generation of web-enabled applications running on a low-cost, secure open source platform. Red Hat also offers support, training and consulting services to its customers worldwide and through top-tier partnerships. Red Hats open source strategy offers customers a long term plan for building infrastructures that are based on and leverage open source technologies with a focus on security and ease of management. Learn more: http://www.redhat.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

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