The VAR Guy

Compiere, a small open source ERP software provider, is on track to grow its business 50 percent this year, driving 80 percent of company revenues through the channel. Next up, Compiere is striving to attract roughly 40 new VARs and integrators into the company’s channel partner program — which includes SaaS and on-premise approaches. Here’s the scoop.

Imagine the following scenario: You’re an integrator that wants to quickly deploy ERP (enterprise resource planning) applications for your small business customers. Sure, you’re familiar with Microsoft Dynamics ERP. But the folks at Openbravo — an open source ERP provider — would like your attention, too. Indeed, Openbravo says it has launched a QuickStart edition that allows VARs and SMBs to accelerate ERP deployments using on-premise or cloud configurations. Here’s the scoop.

Alas, Red Hat is the only publicly held open source company that’s consistently profitable. Finding privately held, profitable open source companies is like searching for the proverbial needle in the… well, you get the picture. But during a July 7 conference call, The VAR Guy stumbled onto a profitable, channel-driven open source company that’s making the leap from Europe to North America. Here’s the scoop.

xTuple is a small open source company with big plans. A prime example: The maker of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software has launched an xChange Online App Store for customers and channel partners. Here’s the scoop, from The VAR Guy.

Despite the recession, two areas of the IT channel — open source companies and managed services specialists — are pressing ahead with partner and customer conferences. The latest example involves Pentaho, an open source business intelligence company that plans to host a partner summit in April.

xTuple, a small provider of open source ERP (enterprise resource planning) software, has a few surprising statements for channel partners: The company is profitable and has no plans to launch a SaaS (software as a service) platform because President and CEO Ned Lilly does not want to compete with channel partners. But that’s not all.

Do you still doubt the power of the emerging open source IT channel? Consider this: Axilom, a solutions provider based in France, has won a contract to deploy Compiere Inc.’s open source ERP (enterprise resource planning) system for La Poste, a global postal processing organization with 300,000 employees and 45 million customers. Here’s the scoop.

Two Microsoft Business Solutions veterans have joined Openbravo, a fast-growing provider of open source enterprise resource planning (ERP) and point of sale (POS) software. The moves signal growing momentum for business-centric open source applications. The news also highlights Openbravo’s continued investments in its IT channel partners. Here’s the scoop.

Compiere Inc., an open source ERP (enterprise resource planning) and CRM (customer relationship management) provider, is launching training courses to help strengthen the company’s customer and partner ranks. Backed by 65 channel partners, Compiere hopes more integrators will master the company’s software. Here are the details from The VAR Guy.

If you want to learn what’s next in the ERP (enterprise resource planning) software market, visit Boston College, Georgetown University or the University of Arizona. All three schools — and plenty of additional colleges — are embracing Kuali, an open source ERP platform. And the deployments frequently involve rSmart, a solutions provider that specializes in open source ERP. Here’s the scoop.

Openbravo, the open source ERP and POS specialist, at LinuxWorld shared plans to offer better native support for MySQL, the wildly popular open source database. Well, The VAR Guy just got an update on the effort. Here’s the scoop, straight from Openbravo Chief Products Officer Paolo Juvara.

Openbravo — maker of open source ERP (enterprise resource planning) and POS (point of sale) software — is taking a bow. The company, which is approaching 100 channel partners, says its ERP and POS software together have generated more than 1 million downloads. But are businesses really running open source ERP and POS? The VAR Guy sure thinks so.

Compiere, which specializes in open source ERP (enterprise resource planning) software, is building a reseller channel and jumping on the Google Chrome web browser bandwagon. Here’s how.

Gas is expensive … inflation is rising … yada, yada, yada… where should solutions providers focus their efforts amid the economic turmoil? Finally, some answers from OnForce, the online marketplace for IT service providers. OnForce has analyzed recent trends within its marketplace, and spotted some key areas of opportunity for solutions providers.

BusinessWeek says open source companies are struggling to monetize their products and show growth. But new channel strategies from companies like Compiere — an open source ERP and CRM application provider — could prove BusinessWeek wrong. Here’s why.

Openbravo — the open source ERP and point of sale (POS) specialist — is discussing a partnership with MySQL and exploring the virtual applications market, The VAR Guy learned while walking the aisles at LinuxWorld Expo. Here’s why solutions providers should take notice.

As we approach next week’s LinuxWorld Expo, The VAR Guy was reminded of an age-old problem. During a meeting earlier this week in New Orleans, a solution provider told The VAR Guy he just didn’t understand how to profit from open source. Didn’t we put this issue to rest a long time ago? Perhaps not. Here are eight ways VARs can profit from Linux and Open Source.

Canonical recently completed a survey analyzing how customers are using Ubuntu Server. To The VAR Guy’s surprise, quite a few customers are running key business applications (including Enterprise Resource Planning) on Ubuntu Server. Here’s a quick look at the survey results.

Ubuntu Linux isn’t just for desktop users anymore. That will be the key message when Canonical and Openbravo demonstrate open source ERP software on Ubuntu servers at Linuxworld in August, The VAR Guy has learned. Here’s the scoop, directly from Openbravo CEO Manel Sarasa (pictured).