Red Hat India to expand presence to SAARC countries

Monday, 08 September 2003, 19:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: Red Hat India, the local arm of leading open source and Linux global provider Red Hat Inc., has chalked out an ambitious strategy to extend its reach to SAARC countries. The company has already entered into agreements with technology and training partners in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal to spread awareness about low-cost open source and Linux operating systems, said Javed Tapia, director of Red Hat India. "We have managed to build a significant presence for open source products in India. Now it makes perfect sense to extend the same approach to neighbouring SAARC countries," Tapia told IANS in an interview. "We are initially focussing on Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. The technology and human resource background in these countries is almost similar to India. These countries offer a vast potential for open source and Linux systems." Red Hat India has tied up with Visual Computing Systems and TCC Solutions in Sri Lanka, Netlink2 in Bangladesh, and Data Resources in Nepal. Additionally, Computer Point in Nepal and Dot Com Systems and Base Limited in Bangladesh have also been appointed as training partners. "Currently, we are focusing on spreading awareness about open source operating systems in these countries. We organise training sessions for government officials and corporate houses that focus on the advantages of using Linux," said Tapia. "We adopted the same strategy in India and it worked beautifully. Two and a half years ago when we entered the Indian market, people asked 'Why Linux?' Today, we hear 'Why Not Linux?' "Developing markets like Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh are today in need of an operating system like Linux to introduce technology in all spheres of life without spending too much money." With a penguin as its mascot, Linux can be bought for a few hundred rupees or downloaded free from the Internet and the same software can be copied across dozens of computers, unlike its proprietary counterparts such as Microsoft's Windows. One can also modify the software programme code to suit individual needs. While Microsoft say Windows is far ahead in terms of security and user convenience, supporters of the open source software, which no one owns, highlight its cost advantage and flexibility for developing economies. In India, a number of states including Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Maharashtra are either implementing or proposing to launch e-government projects using Linux operating system as the platform. Tapia claimed with an increase in the adoption of Linux, Red Hat has witnessed a 100 percent growth year-on-year in India. In the local market, Red Hat enjoys 25-30 percent of the server segment and nearly eight percent of the desktop segment. "Countries like Sri Lanka are looking at getting on to the IT world map by creating good products. They are also focussing on e-governance to improve citizen services. Linux will help them create useful products at sharply lower costs. "Many governments in the South Asian region are also creating IT policies that will facilitate technology adoption." North Carolina-based Red Hat, which has offices in different parts of the world, launched operations in India in December 2000. Tapia said the company is identifying more technology as well as distribution partners across India to support customers locally.
Source: IANS
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