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“- IBM preserves Red Hat's independence and neutrality; Red Hat will strengthen its existing partnerships to give customers freedom, choice and flexibility” Al

“- IBM preserves Red Hat's independence and neutrality; Red Hat will strengthen its existing partnerships to give customers freedom, choice and flexibility” Already now I can mention one bank where I work where RH and IBM account teams are fighting tooth and nail over revenue. It won’t end well.

dpflan 7y ago
Interesting. I think I understand: The account teams at the bank are now trying ensure they get the mainstream of revenue from IBM (+RH) (because they are the same entity financially?). So essentially, the "independence" is not "real" when money comes into play?
theli0nheart 7y ago
What do you mean by "it won't end well"? Seems like it's going to end up pretty well for your bank, given that the two teams are fighting for your business. Let the best team win?
- windexh8er 7y ago
  It may work out for the bank in the short term. But saying Redhat is a separate entity within IBM won't last long if they're driving down their own revenue by fighting each other. IBM leadership holds all the cards now and all the Redhat execs are in a glass house facade. What IBM wants is revenue from the acquisition, not confusion and price wars. There is no best team, there is only one team now. And that team has one goal above all else: show how this acquisition was brilliant and the wall street numbers to prove it. Remember that what IBM paid for Redhat, based on the fact they had to finance a big chunk of that liquid cost, has interest tied to it. That interest cancels out the revenue Redhat will bring to the plate. So... I'll say it now for those who don't want to do the math: your Redhat licensing is going up soon. Better have locked in those 3 year deals prior to today.
hpcjoe 7y ago
My understanding of things like this is, until the day the acquisition closes, the teams should be fighting tooth and nail against each other. Since that was very recent closure, this is normal. OTOH, once the acquisition closes, the businesses are still run independently until "business day 1", though they can cooperate on deals. Likely if they are fighting after closure, its over the integration and account/revenue control. This should be resolved by management, and more often than not, as an exec you have to lay down the law on this. Not everyone will be happy, and even the customers eyebrows will be raised sometimes. RH likely has better relationships with various customers (finserv, etc.) and likely should control these accounts. However, much of this winds up in internal political manuevering.

dpflan 7y ago

Interesting. I think I understand: The account teams at the bank are now trying ensure they get the mainstream of revenue from IBM (+RH) (because they are the same entity financially?). So essentially, the "independence" is not "real" when money comes into play?

theli0nheart 7y ago

What do you mean by "it won't end well"? Seems like it's going to end up pretty well for your bank, given that the two teams are fighting for your business. Let the best team win?

windexh8er 7y ago
It may work out for the bank in the short term. But saying Redhat is a separate entity within IBM won't last long if they're driving down their own revenue by fighting each other. IBM leadership holds all the cards now and all the Redhat execs are in a glass house facade. What IBM wants is revenue from the acquisition, not confusion and price wars. There is no best team, there is only one team now. And that team has one goal above all else: show how this acquisition was brilliant and the wall street numbers to prove it. Remember that what IBM paid for Redhat, based on the fact they had to finance a big chunk of that liquid cost, has interest tied to it. That interest cancels out the revenue Redhat will bring to the plate. So... I'll say it now for those who don't want to do the math: your Redhat licensing is going up soon. Better have locked in those 3 year deals prior to today.

hpcjoe 7y ago

My understanding of things like this is, until the day the acquisition closes, the teams should be fighting tooth and nail against each other. Since that was very recent closure, this is normal. OTOH, once the acquisition closes, the businesses are still run independently until "business day 1", though they can cooperate on deals. Likely if they are fighting after closure, its over the integration and account/revenue control. This should be resolved by management, and more often than not, as an exec you have to lay down the law on this. Not everyone will be happy, and even the customers eyebrows will be raised sometimes. RH likely has better relationships with various customers (finserv, etc.) and likely should control these accounts. However, much of this winds up in internal political manuevering.