The open source hardware company expands its product line.

by Alex Goldman ISP-Planet Managing Editor [July 24, 2006]

Bob Waldie, Chairman and CEO of Opengear, the open source server management company, is in Australia today, and although it's 4:30 PM in New York City, it's 6:30 AM there.

He says that this call is easier than the 3 AM calls he often makes to colleagues in Utah. The company has offices in Brisbane, Australia and West Jordan, Utah. Waldie estimates he spends about half his time at each.

Since we last spoke to him, about three months ago (see The Powerful Remote Niche), the company has expanded its product line.

Opengear focuses on hardware that enables out of band management of remote devices. The initial product, the CM 4000 series, enabled remote management of any product with a serial port, generally servers in data centers.

"Now we're also managing all devices connected to the network," says Waldie. Devices can be anything from VoIP servers to DSLAMs to routers and switches.

The new additions to this product line are charmingly named CM4116-48V and CM4148-48V (the 4116 has 16 ports and the 4148 has 48 ports).

The open source difference
Opengear differentiates itself from the competition by making both its hardware and software open source.

"So if I knew enough, I could join your project and find out what you're planning for the future," I ask Waldie.

He replies, "you could contribute to it!"

Waldie says that the customers most eager to adopt open source technology are the most tech savvy. They include universities and governments. "There are a whole host of government regions, in Asia and in Europe (especially Germany), where the fact that you are open source is seen as positive. It changes the risk profile because they can see the pieces. They can see the technologies we've used."

Because the products rely on open source hardware, Waldie says the company will never pioneer a technology. "We're conservative in the technology piece we integrate into our solution," he says.

He adds that Opengear keeps pricing down by delivering purpose built hardware. His competitors, he says, often use an Intel PC, which contains unnecessary features like sound and certain networking and file sharing capabilities.

Pricing and availability
For your local distributor, see the company website.

The products are available now.

The Opengear CM4116-48V is $995 and the CM4148-48V is $1,695.

—End