10/24/2007

GroundWork Open Source, Inc., a specialist in open source systems and network management software, today announced significant expansion of its North American channel presence with the addition of several prominent new partners including Melillo Consulting, a software reseller that is one of HPOpenView’s 6 Elite partners in North America, and Carahsoft Technology Corporation, a government IT solutions provider that played a crucial role in enabling GroundWork’s inclusion on a GSA contract schedule.

ebizQ received the following:

“We noticed a shift in buying patterns that is associated with a growing interest in open source solutions,” said Jeff Gibson, vice president and general manager of enterprise management at Melillo Consulting. “Our main goal is to help our customers save money and grow their business. Adding GroundWork Open Source solutions to our portfolio will enable our customers to effectively leverage open source tools as a legitimate enterprise management solution for mission critical environments.”

Virginia-based Carahsoft Technology Corporation also noticed a change in the government market, as interest in open source solutions grew. Committed to helping federal, state and local government agencies select and implement the best solution at the best possible value, Carahsoft joined GroundWork’s partner program. Recently, GroundWork’s solutions were awarded on Carahsoft’s GSA Schedule Contract, enabling government customers to easily purchase and deploy GroundWork open source and commercial management products. As the Master Schedule holder for Groundwork, Carahsoft will make the Schedule available to Groundwork’s partners to make it easier and more efficient for the Groundwork Channel to assist Government customers.

Open source technology is making inroads into government organizations due to flexibility, reliability, excellent price-performance strengths and ability to work with the “Big 4” management suites. GroundWork’s GSA contract schedule award is another indication of the increased demand in among government IT managers for commercial open source technology.

“Many government agencies are looking to open source to tie together a mixed network of different systems,” said Natalie Gregory, director of the Open Source Solutions group for Carahsoft. “GroundWork Open Source offers government customers an extremely cost-effective way of deploying flexible management for a wide range of existing network services. We are excited to bring this technology to our Government Customers and partners.”

Hundreds of enterprise and government customers already use GroundWork Monitor Professional to monitor their systems and networks and thousands more have downloaded and deployed GroundWork Monitor Open Source. GroundWork’s inclusion on the GSA schedule builds on the strong partnerships GroundWork already has with leading government resellers Carahsoft and Melillo. The GSA contract schedule award will also make it easier for government agencies to buy GroundWork products from existing vendors that are GroundWork partners.

“Although there are some great proprietary network management solutions on the market, many government customers are looking for a less expensive and simpler solution,” said Gibson. “GroundWork products offer government organizations 80 percent of the functionality of the big-name management products at a fraction of the cost.”

“The addition of Melillo Consulting and Carahsoft to our network of partners is a reflection of GroundWork’s successful channel strategy at work. Both of these companies are leaders in their respective areas, and we’re pleased to be going to market with them,” said Ranga Rangachari, president and CEO of GroundWork Open Source. “Additionally, with the high demand for GroundWork products in the government sector, the new GSA contract schedule makes it easier for our customers to buy our products and services."