Open Source Weblog

"We think this could be an interesting strategy to determine market demand for complementary open-source technologies and eventually lead to acquisitions," Maynard wrote, according to ZDNet. "We see immediate synergy with two RHX partners: Alfresco for content management and Zimbra for collaboration and messaging," he added.

Larry Dignan picked up the suggestion and ran with it, quoting more from Maynard’s note: "We think investing in RHX is critical because they should be expanding their product footprint into a broader spectrum of product areas like systems management, collaboration, content management, database management, and SOA infrastructure."

Meanwhile Matt Asay also picked up on the suggestion, while diplomatically avoiding mentioning that his employer, Alfresco, was one of the potential targets listed by Maynard.

“Another angle on RHX is that Red Hat could simply be using this to test customer interest and market demand for various products and then acquire the most popular companies. This could be a strategy to eliminate some of the potential product and sales risk since they would be in a position to see where customers find the most value,” he quotes from Maynard’s note.

The last point for me is the crucial one. Yes, Red Hat could use this to see which products generate the most interest from customers, but I am sure the company is already well aware of those statistics.

The interesting thing for me about RHX is the way it eliminates risk, enabling Red Hat to offer integrated software stacks beyond what is possible via a simple integration deal, without needing to acquire technology or companies.

As Asay notes, “the company's reputation exceeds its ability to actually consume multiple acquisitions”. While some companies are naturally aggressive and acquisitive (Oracle) others are more risk-averse.

While it has made purchases, Red Hat fits in the latter category. The JBoss acquisition is the exception, rather than the rule, I would suggest.

(Mixed metaphor alert!). I guess its matter of whether your glass is half full or half empty. On the one hand RHX certainly looks like Red Hat getting its acquisition ducks in a row, on the other it could suggest a company hedging its bets.