Andy Reed
“The industry is our oyster. Open source is the industry’s software technology of choice.”
ExecutiveBiz: What does your role as the leader of business development for the public sector entail?
Lynne Chamberlain:Â I started with Red Hat 13 years ago and moved to the North American Public Sector Organization two years later. I currently fill the role of VP, Business Development for Public Sector at Red Hat, where I manage both Federal and SLED Business Development Directors who are responsible for capturing major programs.
I also lead our Federal Business Development Organization, which consists of 26 capture/alliance managers, system architects and marketers. The organization focuses on the top 20 System Integrators. This group was launched to pursue government programs in the DoD, Intel and civilian agencies, and has seen continual growth of 30%+ YOY by closing sales for open source solutions that include: Linux, cloud, containers, storage, middleware, and management software.
Since I have joined the company, Red Hat has grown from $500M to $3B in revenue, with Red Hat’s Public Sector Organization, led by Paul Smith, acting as a key contributor. Today, the organization captures both federal and SLED programs and supports our System Integrators through a premier partner program.
ExecutiveBiz: Where do you see open-source software having the greatest impact in the public sector?
Lynne Chamberlain: Open source software’s greatest impact is in the DevOps and cloud market spaces. Our cloud and middleware products provide technology leadership to partners (i.e., Amazon and Microsoft) who turn to Red Hat to secure their cloud platforms and provide customers with software-defined storage and middleware solutions. Red Hat CloudForms, our hybrid cloud management platform, provides “a single pane of glass” so customers can manage a hybrid infrastructure that allows them to transform their environments and take advantage of the best architectures in the software industry.
Open source is also having a positive impact on enterprise security. In fact, Red Hat has seen significant growth in the cybersecurity market. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is the leading open source platform for modern data centers and delivers military-grade security, providing an ideal foundation for cyber companies to build their software stack and solutions to support mission-critical apps, combat insider threats and more.
ExecutiveBiz: Â You have led the growth of your division 30 percent year over year for the past 12 years. Could you tell our readers how you achieved that?
Lynne Chamberlain: When I came to Red Hat we were known as the Linux software company that provided free software. In reality, our business model of selling subscriptions instead of perpetual licenses has proved to be highly profitable and the preferred direction of the industry today.
Our operating system, Red Hat Enterprise Linux continues to be one of the most popular open source technologies for enterprises. Our clients choose it not only for the security, but also as the building block for our other software. Over the years Red Hat has acquired state-of-the-art software (e.g. middleware, management,, storage technologies, etc.) and made it open and easy to use by the community.
The fact that we’re open gives us yet another advantage. As the government transforms from the old mainframe technology to the cloud, it is important for them to find an architecture that allows compatibility to all technologies so organizations are not locked in with any one vendor. This is what we do.
Today, we have so many great solutions– not just Linux. When customers think of Red Hat, they don’t just think of Linux anymore – they think of our complete stack of solutions and of all their capabilities. On the one hand, our growth has been organic, with the foundation being a secure OS that adheres to standards, compliance, is efficient and all at a huge cost savings to our partners and end user customers. But we’ve also grown through acquisitions–we’ve acquired companies for middleware, virtualization, API management, automation, mobile technologies and more. Through organic growth and such acquisitions, we provide our customers with a robust open source software suite, and Gartner portrays this in their 4 Quadrant model.
ExecutiveBiz: What new market opportunities do you see on the horizon?
Lynne Chamberlain: The industry is our oyster. Open source is the industry’s software technology of choice. Our total software package includes: high-performing cloud, virtualization, storage, Linux, and middleware technologies. Together with Red Hat’s solutions, Red Hat’s worldwide support, training, and consulting services provide everything you need to bring the power and freedom of open source into government agencies and enterprises.
As Jim Cramer on MSNBC says, “Red Hat is Red Hot!â€
