Muggie van Staden, CEO at Obsidian Systems.

Leading provider of end-to-end digital services and solutions Obsidian Systems, a specialist in Open Source technology and cloud adoption, is perfectly positioned to leverage its partnership with IBM and the enterprise group’s recently acquired subsidiary Red Hat, to redefine service delivery to the market.

Open Source technology has evolved and today, the focus for businesses in South Africa is on cloud service adoption.

In 2018, IBM identified hybrid cloud as the dominant force in the industry and has since introduced new technologies and in 2019, acquired Red Hat in a landmark US$34-billion deal.

Red Hat OpenShift supercharged the company’s open and secure hybrid cloud platform and helps customers operate in any cloud environment, including on-prem, private, and public cloud environments.

Obsidian is strategically aligned to deploy and service the hybrid cloud and AI-based offering from IBM, particularly OpenShift and Red Hat platform technology.

Partners are at the centre of IBM’s growth strategy. The company is committed to providing the resources and expertise to help partners get to market faster and grow their businesses.

This is a timely development given IBM’s plan to intensify deployment and adoption of its cloud satellite interface model – and Obsidian is ready to capitalise on its technical expertise.

Obsidian has a proud track record of acquiring and retaining Red Hat skilled engineers and certified staff, which reinforces the open source solutions company’s managed services proposition.

Muggie van Staden, MD and CEO of Obsidian Systems, said: “We understand the Red Hat platform very well. So, using OpenShift as a key technology underpinning cloud pack, I guess that potentially gives us a bit of a leg up to some of the other partners that does not understand the OpenShift system that well, but containers are containers and most of the partners out there have been doing container s for quite some while, so I am hoping it gives us a leg up … but the reality is open source is pervasive, its everywhere, everybody does it.

Van Staden points out that the very definition of open source technology has changed and in the company’s 20 years of operation, the market has evolved significantly, including open source licensing conditions.

Obsidian has successfully entrenched its value proposition as an essential technical services partner within numerous verticals, including the highly influential financial services industry.

The company advocates that open solutions empower teams to source get the right code to the right compute to provide the right data. Enabling teams to code, compute and use data in a software-defined world, with the largest backing of skilled developers around the world.

IBM regional leadership emphasises that while technology experience is essential, ultimately the partner ecosystem and service delivery in the market is about value add to the chain, and Obsidian is a good example of this.