I’ll admit, as a real estate reporter, I’m not too well-versed in the intricacies of Boston’s tech scene. So when I showed up to tour Red Hat Inc.’s new Boston office earlier this week, I had to confess: I didn’t actually know what the open source software giant actually did.
Turns out, I’m not the only one. Even some of Red Hat’s customers are unaware of the breadth of the company’s expertise and capabilities outside of the discrete projects the company will tackle, said Nick Hopman, senior director of Red Hat’s emerging technologies practice.
“Some of our really good customers know what they use us for, but don’t know what else we can do,” Hopman said.
That’s part of why Red Hat (NYSE: RHT) wanted to build its Boston office, which features a flagship "executive briefing center" and a first-on-the-East Coast Open Innovation Labs. The executive briefing center is a dark room lit by multiple touch screens, where potential customers can research different case studies from customers around the globe that have successfully used Red Hat technology, or just learn more about the company’s capabilities, from security to the Internet of Things to open source mobile storage and more.
The center is part of a broader effort to build and bolster relationships, not just focus on individual transactions between Red Hat and customers, said Jan Mark Holzer, Red Hat’s consulting software engineer.
The 40,000-square-foot office is located at 300 A St. in Boston’s Fort Point neighborhood, joining tenants including Tivo, Environments at Work and Corderman & Co. in the brick-and-beam office.
