Obsidian Systems - the focused Linux distribution, training, and professional services company - has won the sole South African distribution rights for the Red Hat Linux operating system. The company plans to appoint a number of retail and value-added reseller channel partners for the Red Hat range of products in the coming weeks.
The move ends an effective absence of Red Hat`s products from the South African market for several months following the closure of former distributor Siltek.
Says Nols de Wet, marketing director at Obsidian Systems: "This distribution agreement is an extension of a long-standing relationship between Red Hat and Obsidian Systems. We have served as the sole southern African Certified Red Hat Training Partner since 1999, so it made sense for us to pick up the local distribution rights.
"As the distributor for Red Hat, we will be able to boost the profile of the consulting, implementation and training services we already offer around the product-set. Obsidian will also be able to offer its support and custom software development services to the South African channel."
"Obsidian Systems, our distribution and training partner in SA, has shown total dedication and commitment to Linux and, in particular, Red Hat Linux," says Dirk Haaga, EMEA Channel Manager for Red Hat. "Obsidian`s knowledge and skills in the Linux area have impressed us greatly, and we are pleased to be working with them to bring Red Hat Linux to the African market."
Obsidian will make the latest release of Red Hat Linux available to the South African channel immediately. Red Hat Linux 7.3, released in May, includes a host of new ease of use, security, and administration features. Estimated retail pricing including VAT is R850 for the Personal edition and R2 570 for the Professional Edition.
"No other Linux company has as complete or meticulous a process of developing, testing and sharing Linux-based products with the open-source community as does Red Hat," says De Wet. "As a result, Red Hat is one of the most stable and flexible Linux distributions, characteristics that have made it popular with both hobbyists and enterprise users.
"Red Hat Linux remains one of the most popular Linux distributions in SA, as evidenced by the number of resellers and end-users that approached Obsidian to source products during the past couple of months. We are confident that the product will quickly regain the ground it has lost in the past few months," says De Wet.
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