openAdmin
07-20-2009, 06:29 AM
Open source comapny, Groundwork Open Source spotted in Channel Web's Emerging Vendors (http://www.crn.com/weblogs/emergingvendors/)blogs. Author: Kevin McLaughlin
Company: Groundwork Open Source
Headquarters: San Francisco
Technology Sector: Software
Key Product: Groundwork Monitor
Year Founded: 2004
Number of Channel Partners: 2 in North America; 16 worldwide
Ideal Channel Partner: Midmarket-focused solution providers
Why You Should Care: Groundwork Open Source shaves significant cost from proprietary systems monitoring and management solutions by combining different open-source technologies into a neatly integrated whole.
The Lowdown: San Francisco-based Groundwork Open Source is attracting attention in the monitoring and systems management space with a cost-effective alternative to proprietary products from Hewlett-Packard, EMC, CA and IBM.
But that's not Groundwork's only market strategy: For companies that use a hodgepodge of different open-source point solutions, Groundwork provides the all-important integration needed to get disparate pieces working as a cohesive whole.
David Dennis, senior director of product marketing for Groundwork, likens his company's packaging and development model to that of Red Hat, in the sense that both companies' solutions pull in various open-source elements and combine them with their own code to function as a unified solution.
The company's flagship Groundwork Monitor uses open-source monitoring from Nagios, which has been around for more than a decade and has maturity and penetration, Dennis notes. "There are a lot of well-proven system management point solutions out there, but they're not designed to work with each other. We don't see the point of reinventing the wheel," he said.
Groundwork doesn't target specific vertical markets but does tend to appeal to certain market segments, including government, financial services, military and higher education, according to Dennis. One large client uses Groundwork Monitor to keep track of 22,000 servers, although Dennis says the typical customer has between 7,000 and 8,000 servers.
With scalability on par with that of more expensive systems management solutions, and essential features such as a reporting engine, scalable role-based user interface and executive dashboards, Groundwork is quickly gaining a following with recession-strapped customers, Dennis said. "We offer great breadth of coverage for more types of devices because people will write open source plug-ins for everything."
Groundwork does between 30 percent and 35 percent of its business overseas and reaches these markets exclusively through channel partners, most of which are traditional VARs. In North America, Groundwork uses a hybrid approach that entails a combination of direct and channel-led sales, and notable partners include Unisys and Carahsoft. However, "there are definitely activities going on to recruit more channel partners" in this part of the world, Dennis said.
Company: Groundwork Open Source
Headquarters: San Francisco
Technology Sector: Software
Key Product: Groundwork Monitor
Year Founded: 2004
Number of Channel Partners: 2 in North America; 16 worldwide
Ideal Channel Partner: Midmarket-focused solution providers
Why You Should Care: Groundwork Open Source shaves significant cost from proprietary systems monitoring and management solutions by combining different open-source technologies into a neatly integrated whole.
The Lowdown: San Francisco-based Groundwork Open Source is attracting attention in the monitoring and systems management space with a cost-effective alternative to proprietary products from Hewlett-Packard, EMC, CA and IBM.
But that's not Groundwork's only market strategy: For companies that use a hodgepodge of different open-source point solutions, Groundwork provides the all-important integration needed to get disparate pieces working as a cohesive whole.
David Dennis, senior director of product marketing for Groundwork, likens his company's packaging and development model to that of Red Hat, in the sense that both companies' solutions pull in various open-source elements and combine them with their own code to function as a unified solution.
The company's flagship Groundwork Monitor uses open-source monitoring from Nagios, which has been around for more than a decade and has maturity and penetration, Dennis notes. "There are a lot of well-proven system management point solutions out there, but they're not designed to work with each other. We don't see the point of reinventing the wheel," he said.
Groundwork doesn't target specific vertical markets but does tend to appeal to certain market segments, including government, financial services, military and higher education, according to Dennis. One large client uses Groundwork Monitor to keep track of 22,000 servers, although Dennis says the typical customer has between 7,000 and 8,000 servers.
With scalability on par with that of more expensive systems management solutions, and essential features such as a reporting engine, scalable role-based user interface and executive dashboards, Groundwork is quickly gaining a following with recession-strapped customers, Dennis said. "We offer great breadth of coverage for more types of devices because people will write open source plug-ins for everything."
Groundwork does between 30 percent and 35 percent of its business overseas and reaches these markets exclusively through channel partners, most of which are traditional VARs. In North America, Groundwork uses a hybrid approach that entails a combination of direct and channel-led sales, and notable partners include Unisys and Carahsoft. However, "there are definitely activities going on to recruit more channel partners" in this part of the world, Dennis said.