How Does HP’s Acquisition of Red Hat Color Your Future?
With Hewlett-Packard’s CEO, Apotheker, holding his much anticipated strategy meeting in less than a week, the acquisition of Open Source software darling, Red Hat, has analysts waxing-poetically about what the endgame is for this marriage.
Most will instantly jump to the conclusion that HP continues on its quest to succeed IBM and best Oracle. They would be right to think this is a great leverage point to strike a long-armed blow at its rivals. I am particullary interested in how this impacts arch rival in the PC and server market, Dell.
However, I seriously doubt this play will upset any of these players’ apple carts.
For those that aren’t familiar with Red Hat, it is one of the more well known ‘flavors’ of the open source Linux operating system software. What’s important to note here?
- Red Hat was the last large open source software company on the market after Sun Microsystem’s acquisition by Oracle and Novell’s acquisition by Attachmate and Microsoft.
- More importantly, Red Hat effectively built a cottage industry on packaging and supporting something that was free. This is a proverbial techno-lemonade stand!
Two dominant theories seem to be floating around, one of which calls for HP to continue on its path to create a comprehensive ‘IT stack’, or a tightly integrated technology and services ecosystem. The other is to begin offering highly commoditized hardware/software bundles in a runaway land grab.
So how does this relate to MPS?
Think platforms. You may be familiar with Sharp’s Open Systems Architecture (OSA), not to be confused with open source. This is their standard web services platform, which powers Sharp’s software partner integrations. It was the first platform in this industry I saw that reminded me of the way I am use to software working… you type in a code and activate it.
No Java modules, very scalable and great for remote management for multi-site locations.
But Sharp doesn’t have the reach or the distribution of HP… So take acquisitions like 3Com and Red Hat and begin to ask how a hardware centric OEM gets into services? Sure you might mention EDS in there somewhere, but why not leverage HP’s immense brand and presence in the IT world to create a distribution channel rivaling what Apple had to build from scratch?
Think about an integrated platform focused on information creation, distribution and realization. Oh, by the way I need to print something from my mobile phone, my PC or wherever the information lives. An acquisition like Red Hat is not the end game, but it is certainly an interesting piece on the chess board to building a ubiquitous platform.
Ken Stewart offers observations from the field of managed print services in his weekly column on MPS Insights every Wednesday. As a senior consultant with the Photizo Group, he comes from and works directly with channel providers in the managed services space, developing educational tools and resources to promote lasting business transformation.
Ken Stewart’s website, ChangeForge, focuses on the collision between the constantly changing worlds of business and technology in an information-centric world. Get the latest industry news, and follow ChangeForge on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.
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