eZ Systems brings former IBM exec on board as CEO

In further proof of the mainstreaming of open source products, eZ Systems [1] announced this week they were bringing industry veteran Christopher Rau on board to become CEO. He will take over immediately, replacing company co-founder, Aleksander Farstad, who will become chief business development officer.

Rau is a seasoned software industry executive. He spent the better part of his career at IBM where he worked his way up into several executive positions before joining BEA in 2003 where he was vice president Central and Eastern Europe. In 2006, Rau became CEO of Parsytec AG.

Former CEO Farstad says the move signals a change and maturation for eZ, and for commercial open source in general. "For the first 10 years of eZ, we grew successfully by focusing on our unique commercial open source business model," said Farstad. "Our value came from our focus on how we did things better. Now, as the commercial open source business model has matured and is well established, we will focus on what we do better than any other competitor: Help businesses manage and publish any type of information, created and managed by anyone and published through any digital channel."

Rau gives eZ a public face that is a recognized, experienced veteran who should be able to guide the company to the next level. Farstad is right that this shows that open source market is maturing as more of these companies bring in executives from more traditional vendors (just as Nuxeo [2] did recently when it hired Cheryl McKinnon [3]).

For more information:
- see the eZ Systems press release [4]

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