OSICT

TechData - the international hardware and software distribution company - has announced its Open Tech programme to 250 of Tech Data's TechSelect community - reports ChannelWeb. The purpose of the Open Tech programme is to provide a new and better "route to market" for open source software ISV (Independent Software Vendors).

According to Stacy Nethercoat (TechData's vice president of software product marketing) most people are aware of Red Hat and Novell's SUSE Linux but TechData doesn't have complete open source solutions. Nethercoat continued: "not enough is known about open source solutions outside the data center".

Already 1500 solution providers are purchasing open source products and TechData is now negotiating with between 12 and 15 ISVs to add further "content management, business intelligence, data backup and recovery and collaboration" software product lines.

Nethercoat believes that the open source ISVs are realising that to grow their businesses they must "engage" with distributors.