KUALA LUMPUR--Red Hat has pledged to ensure Malaysia' open source software economy continues to grow with the launch of its Open Source Collaborative Innovation (OSCI) program in the country.
Speaking to the media Tuesday in his first visit to Malaysia, the software vendor's CEO and president Jim Whitehurst, said Malaysia is a natural country for Red Hat to introduce the OSCI program as it has a strong record of adopting open source applications.
Malaysia ranked 12th in this year's Open Source Index, a study based on research by the Georgia Institute of Technology that compares open source activity across 75 countries. A collaboration between the institute and Red Hat, the countries were scored based on their open source policies, practices and other relevant data across the industry, community and government sectors.
"In the two days I've been meeting various government agencies and officials, I've been very impressed by the open source developments especially with what I've seen in the public sector," he said, noting that Malaysia is the fifth country after China, Singapore, Australia and India to introduce the OSCI in Asia.
Some 71.7 percent of Malaysia's government offices have adopted open source, driven by the country's Public Sector OSS Master Plan.
The OSCI is Red Hat's effort to encourage open source software deployment and build a global community for collaborative innovation.
Saifol Bahri, vice president of industry development for the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC), said it hopes to see an increase of the number of IT professionals competent in open source development.
"Hopefully, we will have about 5,000 heads and 25 companies that will be competent in open source solutions two years time," he said. "MDeC is also targeting for the industry to bring in revenues worth 800 million ringgit (US$229 million) in that same period," he said.
Bahri added that the MDeC has allocated 10 million ringgit (US$2.9 million) in seed funding to help deserving companies achieve these goals.
Aiding local ecosystem
Patrick Lim, Red Hat's Asean general manager, said the vendor is committed to forming partnerships with local ISVs (independent software vendors) so government and business users in Malaysia can benefit from open source adoption. Some 60 ISVs currently work with Red Hat's Malaysian office, which was established in February to ensure the community receives consistent support, Lim said. The local office currently has three full-time staff.
"Our plans include growing the ecosystem by working together with agencies like MDeC, engaging in technology enablement to help build the community, and mentoring local companies until they can commercialize their products and services," he added.
Asked if Red Hat is targeting to recruit a certain number of new ISVs, he said: "We didn't set any targets for Malaysia, but typically, we expect about a 50 percent to 80 percent increase in the number of ISVs we partner within a year of introducing the OSCI. In Singapore, for example, we achieved an increase of about 67 percent after we introduced OSCI there."
Besides engaging ISVs in Malaysia, Lim noted that Red Hat is in talks with local institutions of higher learning to introduce its Red Hat academy training programs, but declined to say how many institutions it is talking to or when such plans will materialize.
Whitehurst was in Singapore last week, where he reiterated the company's plans to bolster efforts to drive open source software development.
Edwin Yapp is a freelance IT writer based in Malaysia.
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