Enterprise Linux vendor Red Hat Inc."s Australian office has a new managing director, with Max McLaren taking over from Gus Robertson, who has been promoted to as Asia Pacific vice president for channels and alliances.

No stranger to open source, McLaren made the move from IBM where he ran the regional operations of Big Blue"s SMB software (Lotus) over the last year.

In terms of why he left Big Blue, McLaren said Red Hat"s strong recent performance had impressed him and that he intended to continue the upward trend.

A native Zimbabwean who attended the University of Natal, McLaren conceded he was still coming to terms with aspects of antipodean culture, not least his inability to relinquish loyalty to the Springboks.