Red Hat heads to Canberra on back of growing open source interest

Red Hat has opened a Canberra office on the back of growing interest from government organisations and private companies for its open source software offerings.

The vendor, whose suite of offerings include Red Hat Enterprise Linux, JBoss Middleware, hybrid cloud and storage solutions, says the new office will help bring hybrid cloud solutions to a broader market across Australia and New Zealand.

Max McLaren, Red Hat Australia and New Zealand managing director, says Canberra has emerged as a strong growth area for the company over the past few years 'so it makes sense to formalise Red Hat's presence in the area'.

"This will help us improve our service to existing customers in the local market and support future growth opportunities," McLaren says.

In 2011, the Australian government released a policy requiring agencies to consider open source software for all software procurements.

The government also mandated that agencies should also actively participate in open source software communities and contribute back where appropriate.

The Canberra office – Red Hat's fourth in Australia – will provide a central location for Red Hat sales, support and technical teams and provide support for customers throughout the Australian Capital Territory.

Earlier this month the company launched its Open Innovation Labs consulting service to help companies integrate people, methodology and technology to solve business challenges in an 'accelerated' fashion.