CRN: JBoss Group CEO Calls For Partner Assistance

"CRN: One of the more popular certifications in the software space is your JBoss certification for individuals. But now you are trying to change that. Why?

"FLEURY: Think of us as a BEA or as an IBM, meaning you buy the software from us except you're not really buying a license for the software; you're buying the maintenance for the software. You're just buying the service part of it. People want to buy support because it's insurance. Management is more comfortable when they can call up and strangle someone if something goes wrong. In the past, the certification program was targeted to individuals. The problem is that it gave rise to every little company out there offering JBoss support. It's open source so anybody can offer JBoss support. But the reality of it is they would have one guy that would come through certification and the company itself was not really capable of doing the support. So we found ourselves in the bad situation of having the brand lose its value because people were offering support left and right with no knowledge and no quality control. So the JASP is really a way to structure how that service really is done in the field. Our program still includes a notion of certification, but now we're talking about reselling services at the company level as opposed to just certifying a bunch of individuals. The JBoss certification will only be pursuant to the JASP program so you cannot be a single, certified agent. You can advertise that in your resume but it's the resellers that are important to us, the JASP partners..."

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• siliconvalley.internet.com: Q&A: JBoss CEO Marc Fleury(Aug 26, 2003)
• ZDNet.UK: Q&A: Behind the story at JBoss(Apr 01, 2003)
• SearchEnterpriseLinux: JBoss Founder: Time is Now for Open-Source Application Servers(Feb 27, 2003)