Johannesburg, 19 Nov 2012
Obsidian Systems, a Red Hat Premier Business Partner in South Africa, today announced it received the Lifetime Achievement Reseller award for the Middle East, Turkey & Africa (META) region at the recent Red Hat Partner Tour for the META region. The award recognises Obsidian Systems' work as a Red Hat Partner in South Africa over the past decade.
"Of all our partners in the META region, Obsidian has the longest standing relationship with us, and in conjunction with Red Hat, has been instrumental in furthering the use of open source within South Africa," said George DeBono, general manager for Red Hat Middle East, Turkey & Africa. "They used their drive and influence to help train other partners in the early days, putting the community first, and despite understanding that potentially they were developing the skills of a possible competitor."
Obsidian MD Muggie van Staden was understandably pleased with the award as it further validates the collaboration between the two companies, which stretches back over more than 10 years to when the first training partner agreement was struck.
"We have had a phenomenal journey together with Red Hat as the adoption of open source solutions has gained traction," Van Staden said. "We are delighted to have received the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award for the Middle East, Turkey & Africa region. This award is a testament to the hard work and dedication of my team."
Obsidian has won numerous awards over the course of its collaboration with Red Hat, with some of the more recent being the 2011 Red Hat Certified Training Partner for the region, and also the 2012 Red Hat Middleware Partner of Year, which was also announced at the recent partner event.
"The Middleware Partner is also a new award, and as the largest middleware partner in the Middle East, Turkey & Africa region, this is very exciting for us," said Van Staden. "Middleware is a relatively new area for us, but we definitely see JBoss Enterprise Middleware as the platform for the future."
De Bono credited Obsidian with helping Red Hat to make resources available so that early adopter organisations acquired the necessary skills and certification. "Additionally, Obsidian has not differentiated between end-user and potential competitors when it has come to training; understanding that the more skills in the market, the more potential we have to expand our install base."
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