Red Hat to Invest $20 mln in India, Buys Joint Venture
IT News Online Staff
2005-12-07
Red Hat Inc. has announced plans to invest $20 million in India and contribute more resources to further realize the potential of the country's open source market. As part of its expansion in the country, Red Hat has acquired its joint venture with Javed Tapia that was formed in 2000.
"India has proven itself as a strategic market for Red Hat and Linux," said Matthew Szulik, Chairman and CEO of Red Hat. "This market is rich with technical talent and users interested in taking an active role in the open source community. Red Hat will work to grow this market and nurture India's education of open source and Linux. This buy-out will further strengthen Red Hat's commitment and offerings to its Indian customers in the Enterprise, Government and Education sectors."
"To accelerate this growth rate, Red Hat has plans to invest over $20 million in India over the next several years," said Charlie Peters, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Red Hat. "Additionally, the company will leverage the technical skills of the Indian talent pool to expand its market share in other geographies."
The company said its joint venture with Javed Tapia, which has experienced tremendous growth and success, has become strategic to Red Hat since it's establishment. With India emerging as the fastest growing region for the company in Asia Pacific, Red Hat considers this acquisition as an important move.
The company now has representation in seven locations in India and also in Sri Lanka and has experienced over 100% growth over the couple of years. Red Hat has partnered with the Indian government on various Linux and Open Source technology projects. Last year, the company launched its flagship product, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, in 5 Indian languages, and has seen several large enterprise customers choosing Red Hat Enterprise Linux as their platform of choice. The company has deployed the solution for enterprises like Central Bank of India, Eveready Industries, LIC and Canara Bank.
"Given India's strong technical base we believed that Indian IT professionals would welcome the open source model and embrace this technology," said Javed Tapia. "Today it is gratifying to see the overwhelming demand for Red Hat. In the future, with Red Hat's increased focus and expanded presence in India we will be able to further the adoption of open source technologies at an even more rapid rate. We have currently only scratched the surface."
Red Hat also announced that Javed Tapia has been promoted to the role of President, Red Hat Indian Subcontinent, responsible for the operations and strategic planning for all its operations in India. Javed will also oversee Red Hat's operations in Middle East as well as continue to be responsible for the operations and strategic planning for Red Hat in India.
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