Trilight Zone

[tricore]

When former IBM and Lenovo exec Mark Enzweiler joined Red Hat as VP of North American Channel Sales in October, channel providers were hoping Red Hat would become more channel-friendly. Their wishes appear to have been granted, with the launch of Red Hat's CSP (Certified Service Provider) initiative.

Since Enzweiler came on board, Red Hat has been working closely with its channel partners to create the CSP. The Program, which is now active in North America and will launch globally in the future, 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 announced that through the CSP Program, partners will have the ability to learn and implement Red Hat methodologies for core service offerings including Core Build, Health Check, and Satellite Implementation Services.

The Core Build service standardizes the build and deployment process, allowing clients to deploy and manage hundreds of thousands of systems effectively, according to Red Hat. The the Health Check service aims to enable clients to "fully optimize" their IT infrastructure through an on-site check by experienced consultants at client facilities. For end users with twenty or more servers, the Satellite Implementation Service involves designing, installing, and configuring a Red Hat Network satellite, allowing for premium system management.

Enzweiler stated: "Red Hat's Certified Service Provider Program is an invitation-only program that will offer marked benefits for involved partners. This is an excellent opportunity for our partners to grow in their open source service practice and to collaborate with Red Hat to meet the demand for open source subscription opportunities and service engagements. We appreciate the help of all Red Hat Advanced Business Partners in the development of the CSP program and are thrilled about the opportunities this program presents."

CSP Program partners will be given the opportunity to participate in shadowing, and will be eligible for subcontracting engagements through Red Hat Global Professional Services. In addition, there will be exposure to new clients, access to non-open source follow-on opportunities, potential for supplemental Red Hat training and discounted professional services, access to a Red Hat technical specialist, and more, Red Hat says.

This new CSP effort is a major shift from Red Hat's original CSP, which in 2000 was meant more to supply support to service providers and Web hosting providers. The original CSP was never as successful as Red Hat had hoped.

InCentric Solutions, a Red Hat and IBM partner, worked with Red Hat to develop CSP. This system integrator works with customers to implement solutions ranging from system infrastructure services; collaboration, e-servers, storage and networking, to completely customized end-to-end solutions complete with consulting. InCentric's customers include Fortune 500 companies. "Red Hat's CSP Program is yet another great opportunity for our company to sell, service, and promote Red Hat Enterprise subscriptions," said Troy Webb, InCentric's CMO. "This program will also help drive adoption of JBoss as part of a complete, integrated solution with our customers."

FusionStorm, a national MSP (managed service provider) is also excited about the new channel program. For this company, it will able them to make its "wide range of project-based and managed services available to more customers," said Vince Conroy, CTO at FusionStorm in a statement. "Ultimately, CSP will help customers by providing more choices when it comes to finding qualified and certified with designing and deploying Linux-based solutions in the data center".

Another partner, international technology solution provider Agilysys Inc., is also very pleased with the new program. "We are excited about the many comprehensive solution possibilities that the Red Hat CSP program will provide to our customers," said senior VP of professional services John Pratt. "This program gives us an opportunity to work closely with Red Hat to further enable our customers to achieve the value and high-performance associated with open source technology."

At the moment, the new CSP initiative doesn't appear to have a home on Red Hat's website. Most likely, a link will be added to this new program shortly from the Red Hat Partner Programs page.