Julian Somodi, Red Hat GM, South America
(Credit: Matt Asay)Latin America has tended to be one of the worst performing geographies for most software companies, generally coming in at one to four percent of total company revenues. That may be about to change.
Yesterday I had lunch with Julian Somodi, Red Hat's general manager for South America. Somodi has one of the most exceptional backgrounds of anyone I've met at Red Hat. His first "job" was with Red Hat: Until then, he had always been an entrepreneur, starting and selling a range of businesses.
In fact, he started the first real Red Hat distributorship in South America and practically demanded Red Hat to open shop in the region. (I heard this from his colleagues - Somodi isn't the type to brag of his own achievements.) He was Red Hat's first general manager back in 2006, and has been pushing forward ever since.
News flash for Red Hat: Somodi is still every bit the entrepreneur, and is now putting his drive and ambition to work for Red Hat. It's pretty impressive to behold. But then, for anyone that has worked with Somodi, they already know this.
Asay: Latin America has always been difficult for North American and European software companies. Between piracy and comparatively low budgets for technology, we've struggled to know how to do business in Latin America. You seem to see an opportunity, and have been closing some big customers like the Brazilian Federal Court. Why?
... Read moreThe South American natives are getting restless, and they're clamoring for open source. From Brazil to Chile, South America is widely adopting - even legislating - open source. While it has yet to become a real commercial success for open-source companies, that will come. Adoption precedes monetization.
Given my parents' recent move to Argentina, I'm particularly glad to read this:
Argentina, having recently undergone an economic collapse, is also a lover of Open Source. The enthusiasm for it there has engulfed much of the private sector, where according to a 2004 survey from Argentina-based Trends Consulting, 42 per cent of Argentine companies use Linux and many of these are planning to use Open Source for all new applications.
Muy bueno! Perhaps when I'm there in August I'll have the chance to meet with some of the groups agitating for open source in Argentina. In the meantime, here's to the Che Pingüinos making it happen down south.
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