Eager to outgrow its Linux-only stereotype, Red Hat introduced three new services Tuesday as part of its open-source consulting arm launch.
The suite of services is designed to usher enterprises toward migration of their infrastructure to Linux and a host of other versatile open-source solutions, said Sushma Rajagopalan, vice president of global professional consulting for Research Triangle Park, North Carolina-based Red Hat.
"We're not just a Linux provider. We're really capitalizing on enterprises that are romanticizing the idea of moving toward open source," Rajagopalan said. "If you look at today's economy, it's really the concept of doing more with less. You don't want to be held hostage to any kind of proprietary software or releases."
Rajagoplan said the idea behind Red Hat's open-source consulting practice is to provide services and consultation to supplement open-source products, training, solutions, and end-to-end capability requirements.
The new services feature a Linux migration and integration service that tackles the task of moving a Unix platform and its applications to Linux. The second service, called open-source Web infrastructure, helps customers plan and implement solutions geared toward an open-source environment. This service takes into account matters including content management applications, firewalls, Web servers, e-commerce, and other open-source solutions, Rajagoplan said.
Lastly, the open-source strategic opportunities service is geared toward promoting the advantage of open source for enterprises, particularly identifying where it can play the most influential role in business and technology initiatives within a company.