Scalix Expands Its Worldwide Channel for Linux and Open Source Messaging by Joining Red Hat Exchange

Published 11th May 2007

Combination of Red Hat Exchange and an expanded VAR channel will make Scalix solutions more widely available to small and mid-size businesses...

San Mateo, CA and Red Hat Summit—May 10, 2007—Scalix Corporation, provider of the leading enterprise messaging solution based on Linux and open source, and Red Hat (NYSE: RHT), the world's leading provider of open source solutions, announced today that Scalix has joined the newly-launched Red Hat Exchange (RHX). This marks another milestone in Scalix’s worldwide channel expansion strategy. RHX, which was declared open for business today, offers subscriptions to open source solution suites which will be sold by value added resellers. Scalix will offer a new subscription version of its award-winning Small Business Edition email and calendaring solution on Red Hat Exchange. The Scalix product will be available for purchase on RHX this summer.

“The Scalix enterprise email and calendaring solution is a core part of an organization’s IT infrastructure and has a high level of touch with other elements in the infrastructure,” said Glenn Winokur, Scalix chief executive officer. “The Red Hat vision of offering ‘pre-baked’ solution suites as well as a single point of contact will drive risk and complexity out of the equation for businesses and make it easier for them to adopt business-critical Linux applications.”

“Even more important to the customer equation are value added resellers,” added Winokur. “Value added resellers are critical to the deployment of applications like Scalix Small Business Edition because they have the technical expertise to integrate and support the entire chain of interrelated applications from the desktop to the data center. It was Red Hat’s vision of extending and embracing its channel programs with RHX subscription products that sold us on Red Hat Exchange. Red Hat-endorsed solution suites being sold by a highly trained and capable VAR channel will be a killer combination for our customers. Red Hat has stepped up to the plate for all of us and will drive Linux adoption much deeper into organizations.”

Scalix has a robust reseller channel with over 250 VARs who sell, deploy and support the Scalix enterprise messaging platform, working directly with Scalix or through Scalix master distributors. Scalix resellers have deployed Scalix products in over 55 different countries around the world and represent the company’s fastest growing sales segment. Scalix VARs will be invited to sell the RHX subscription products along with existing Red Hat VARs. Many Scalix VARs already work with Red Hat, and the Scalix subscription offering on RHX gives them a potential new product package to offer their customers.

“Scalix brings an important application to the suite of open source products offered by Red Hat Exchange,” said Donald Fischer, vice president of Online Services at Red Hat. “The Scalix product supports the needs of businesses for a robust email and calendaring solution based on Linux and open source. Its inclusion in Red Hat Exchange broadens our offering nicely. We’re very excited about today's launch of RHX and pleased Scalix is a part of the program.”

“The combination of Red Hat Exchange and an expanded VAR channel is a winning combination for both Scalix and our customers,” said Winokur. “We have a particular challenge fulfilling the high volume of demand for our solution from small and medium size businesses. Businesses of this size want a robust email and calendaring solution but tend to have limited technical resources to devote to the adoption of new Linux applications. RHX gives those companies a pre-integrated solution suite backed by the resources of both Red Hat and Scalix.”