OSS Advice needed

[sox63]

Hi All

I'm planning to go out on my own and open my own company. I have pretty much settled on the solutions and services I intend to offer, however I would also like to include some OSS solutions and services.

I have very little knowladge of the OSS market and need help with deciding whether it is a good idea or not. I had a look at some of the online stuff and have sort of narrowed down my options to two "distributions", and they are Ubuntu and the stuff that Novell offers. I'm going to be targeting the entreprise desktop and server market.

Novell has on their website a detailed process of how to become a partner, and being the lazy person I am, I'm leaning towards them. However are their certified proffesionals available in the SA market? And how much would they cost me?

I'm not looking to create a company that is going to champion OSS or anything like that, I just want to able to offer customers the choice.

 

[Nod]

A company that are Novell partners are Epiuse. They do mainly SAP work, but also development work mostly OSS related.

I know of some people going for the RHCE certifications. It's not a walk in the park. Very difficult without experience, and even then if you don't have a very good overall knowledge of the system, you will suffer. Because it is so difficult to get certification, people that do get it is far and few between. But, if you do manage to find one, that person will be worth every cent.

PS: Novell offers Suse also known as SLED and SLES, and the free version is openSuse.

 

[sox63]

A company that are Novell partners are Epiuse. They do mainly SAP work, but also development work mostly OSS related.

I know of some people going for the RHCE certifications. It's not a walk in the park. Very difficult without experience, and even then if you don't have a very good overall knowledge of the system, you will suffer. Because it is so difficult to get certification, people that do get it is far and few between. But, if you do manage to find one, that person will be worth every cent.

PS: Novell offers Suse also known as SLED and SLES, and the free version is openSuse.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm looking at being a partner for Novell's SLED and SLES ranges.

But I need at least 1 certified technical person and 1 sales one to be able to sell and support. And judging by what you said, they would cost a LOT.

If I can't find work for them to do, then it starts being very expensive. Maybe this is not a great idea afterall.

 

[Nod]

Try to get somebody part time on a contract or per project basis. If you see that your business picks up a lot, then try to get somebody more permanent, or train a student up for this purpose. Students in the computer sciences or IT field are always willing to help and learn new technologies.

Is it a absolute must to have someone thats certified? I know it's a nice to have, and looks good on your company's portfolio of services, but will you get by with someone who can help himself and know where to look for answers?

How about getting some info from job agencies, to see how many people they have with that skill (linux sysadmin knowledge)?