Linux outfit Red Hat is calling on its partners to help it become a $5 billion company in five years.
CEO Jim Whitehurst told roughly 250 partners attending its North American Partner Conference in New Orleans that to reach $5 billion it will have to dramatically scale its business, and why the channel is important.
In his keynote address, Whitehurst told partners that Red Hat has 9,000 employees, but to make $5 billion the way it’s going now, it projects needing 20,000 in five years. With attrition, that means hiring 17,000 people.
“We would really love to have your help so we don’t necessarily have to bring that many people into the company,” he said.
If partners help alleviate the staffing dilemma, “the single largest challenge we have as a company,” they will have to generate $4 billion of the $5 billion in annual revenue.
He did not say much else which was specific. But he did say that the problems enterprise customers are having -and the capabilities they need to address those problems are “just naturally in the open-source DNA,” Whitehurst said.
He thinks that there are shedloads of opportuntities for Red Hat partners.
“Each of you has a piece of that $4 billion,” Whitehurst told attendees.
