Mark Your Calendar - Innovation Awards Deadline is Fast Approaching!

I’m always eager to learn how our customers and partners are using Red Hat and JBoss technologies to tackle difficult business challenges. I’ve been lucky enough to serve as a current and past judge of the Red Hat and JBoss Innovation Awards which recognize the technological achievements of our customers. Take a look here to learn more about past Innovation Award recipients such as Hill Air Force Base, McKesson, Comcast, Kaplan and Daiwa Securities.

So many customers have achieved impressive results through the use of Red Hat and JBoss technologies. The submissions continue to blow me away each year and I anticipate another great round of entries for 2009. In particular, the current economic climate has placed unprecedented pressure on CIOs to reduce IT spending while still delivering quality solutions. New this year to the Innovation Awards is the Carved Out Costs category which recognizes those who have used open source solutions to cut costs and to maximize the value of their IT budgets.

Nominations are open until May 31 and winners will be presented at this year’s co-located Red Hat Summit and JBoss World to be held September 1-4, 2009 in Chicago. Five categories will each recognize two winning projects, one from Red Hat and one from JBoss, and a sixth category will recognize a winning project that utilized both Red Hat and JBoss solutions. From these category winners, a Red Hat Innovator of the Year and a JBoss Innovator of the Year will be selected by the community through online voting and announced at the awards ceremony.

I encourage you to nominate your company’s achievements or an innovative business or organization that you worked with for an Innovation Award. Winners will receive free admission to Red Hat Summit and JBoss World and participation in exclusive events – not to mention the admiration and accolades of their peers! I look forward to reading through this year’s submissions and hearing more about the creative thinking and determined problem solving demonstrated across the Red Hat and JBoss user base.