"Then we have our global ecosystem, which includes IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Cisco."

Red Hat also has more than 40 smaller companies signed up to its Ready Partner Programme. "We're working very strongly to help those parties accelerate their ability to deliver solutions."

Open source is now an assumed part of the enterprise, he says. "We have very few discussions with customers about managing these types of platforms."

Neilson, who has been with the company for six years, was previously Asia Pacific and Japan director for Red Hat's OEM business.