Global Open Source Collaboration Software Provider eXo Platform Expands to North America with First U.S. Office
In response to growing demand in North America, eXo Platform today opened its first U.S. office and announced a Board of Advisors stacked with software industry luminaries.
This move comes on the heels of a partnership with Red Hat enabling eXo to deliver its open source collaboration software to the North American market. Developed in partnership with many of Europe's largest companies -- including Generali, Societe Generale and Orange -- eXo's software is designed, built and proven in large production deployments for Global 2000 companies. Enterprises in North America can now extend the value and cost savings of their open source infrastructure to applications and content services with eXo.
eXo founder and CEO Benjamin Mestrallet has relocated from France to run operations from the firm's new San Francisco office. Mestrallet will have on hand a team of experienced advisors who have proven track records in managing growth, shaping strong leadership and building valuation for young companies:
- Bob Bickel, Bob Bickel, co-founder of Bluestone Software, former head of Hewlett-Packard Middleware and, most recently, head of strategy at JBoss as well as board advisor to Hyperic (acquired by SpringSource), JasperSoft and Funambol, among others;
- Edwin Khodabakchian, co-founder of Feedly, and former Oracle vice president of product development and CTO of eCommerce at AOL; and
- Sacha Labourey, most recently co-GM of Red Hat's JBoss Middleware business and former CTO and European GM of JBoss, Inc.
"eXo has the proven technology, talent and market potential that I look for when considering which companies I'd like be involved with at a strategic level," noted Bickel. "While enterprise companies have benefited from a wide range of open source options at the operating system and middleware level and with development tools, choices in applications and content services have been limited. This is the next significant opportunity for driving out costs in the enterprise. Given its pioneering history and its successes with large European customers, eXo is primed to lead this charge in North America. I look forward to working with Benjamin and his team to make this happen."
In 2002, eXo delivered the industry's first Java portlet container, which set in motion a leveling of the playing field in the portal market. This also attracted the attention of the U.S. Department of Defense, who went on to help fund the development of the eXo Portal, which is now merged into the new JBoss GateIn portal project. eXo continues to sell a broad portfolio of open source collaborative software that has been developed through R&D investment from its customers, which rank among the largest enterprises and savviest government agencies in the world.
Labourey, who participated in the partnership negotiations before resigning from Red Hat, commented: "eXo is proof that a strong focus on engineering excellence can result in superior products. In the last year, I have come to know firsthand what eXo brings to the market and am consistently impressed by the breadth of its vision and the team's ability to execute."
"If adoption of SharePoint in the .NET enterprise is anything to go by -- surpassing $1 billion in revenue last year -- then, the market for open source content services and applications in the Java enterprise will be even bigger than open source middleware and Linux combined," said Mestrallet. "Thanks to our customers, eXo has been able to build not only a broad set of open source products but also software that is tested and proven in very demanding enterprise environments. We believe that we have something unique to offer enterprise customers in the North America and the world-class support to serve them. I am personally excited to be able to tap the experience and strategic thinking that Bob, Sacha and Edwin bring as advisors to accelerate eXo's growth."
eXo has received numerous accolades in Europe, including StartWest's Company to Watch; and last year, a jury of French technology executives that included the CEOs of France-based divisions of Google, Microsoft and Yahoo honored Mestrallet with the IVY Award, which recognizes an outstanding young technology leader in France.
"Benjamin is a smart, dynamic leader who has built up a lean but global company the old fashioned way -- with solid technology, hard work and a disciplined eye on the bottom line," said Khodabakchian. "I believe eXo has a bright future ahead of it and I am honored to have a part in shaping this."
One of Mestrallet's first stops in the U.S. will be at the Enterprise 2.0 Conference in San Francisco, Calif., where he will share some of the innovations eXo Platform is experimenting with in its labs.
See the conference agenda at: http://www.e2conf.com/sanfrancisco/.
