Open Source: Red Hat buoys IBM | SAS quiet cuts | Novan nears sale | VinFast arrives

Brian Gordon

I’m Brian Gordon, tech reporter for The News & Observer, and this is Open Source, a weekly newsletter on business, labor and technology in North Carolina.

Another IBM earnings report, another double-digit revenue jump for Raleigh’s Red Hat. Since IBM acquired the software provider in 2019, Red Hat has grown every quarter by at least 10%.

On Wednesday, IBM reported Red Hat revenue rose exactly 10% in constant currency. While this was a smaller increase than in past quarters, it still stood well above IBM’s otherwise middling 0.4% growth.

OpenShift, a Red Hat hybrid cloud platform, expanded 30% between April and June. Ansible, an automation platform Red Hat bought in 2015, also saw a double-digit jump.

Aerial view of Red Hat headquarters in downtown Raleigh Monday, Oct. 29, 2018. IBM will acquire the Raleigh-based software maker in a $34 billion deal, the two companies announced Sunday.
Aerial view of Red Hat headquarters in downtown Raleigh Monday, Oct. 29, 2018. IBM will acquire the Raleigh-based software maker in a $34 billion deal, the two companies announced Sunday.

IBM CEO Arvind Krishna praised Red Hat throughout his investor call.

While some worry about IBM’s effect on Red Hat — concerned the tech behemoth will dilute the open-source ethos of the once-plucky Raleigh company — it seems the opposite isn’t true. IBM appears to be loving Red Hat without reservations.

Here’s more of this week’s news. It was busy:

  • Last Friday, The News & Observer received two tips saying the Cary analytic software firm SAS Institute had eliminated positions. The sources, a current and former employee, provided evidence to prove what company officials seemed disinclined to share.

SAS spokesperson Shannon Heath said the company typically does not respond to rumors but then confirmed restructuring at the company is expected to impact around 1% of employees this year.

This isn’t the first time SAS has shrunk its staff; in January, Heath told me the company’s headcount in recent years “has gone down incrementally.” What’s caused the decline? Natural attrition, voluntary buyouts, slower hiring, and a round of layoffs in 2021. And it’s occurred as SAS prepares to go public.

Jim Goodnight is the owner of Cary-based software firm SAS Institute.
Jim Goodnight is the owner of Cary-based software firm SAS Institute.

  • Novan isn’t horsing around. Or maybe it is. The Durham dermatology company filed for bankruptcy this week and entered what’s known as a stalking horse asset agreement to be bought by a California firm. Read more about Novan’s rise, its fall, and what comes next.

  • A worker was hospitalized early this week after an accident at Wolfspeed’s headquarters in Research Triangle Park. The next day, the N.C. Department of Labor opened an investigation into the Raleigh construction firm which employed the contractor.

  • Mark your calendars for July 28. That’s the date VinFast will break ground on its $4 billion car plant in eastern Chatham County.

It’ll be interesting to see whether top North Carolina officials attend. The project is massive, 3 million square feet (see the map!) with a promise of 7,500 new jobs to the rural area near the Triangle. But VinFast’s initial rollout has been bumpy (bad reviews, delayed opening, a recall.) Will politicians want to embrace the project or create some distance?

VinFast CEO Le Thi Thu Thuy and N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper sit inside a VF8 electric car Tuesday, March 29, 2022 outside the Raleigh Convention Center.
VinFast CEO Le Thi Thu Thuy and N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper sit inside a VF8 electric car Tuesday, March 29, 2022 outside the Raleigh Convention Center.

Short Stuff

  • A UNC employee is accused of operating a $9.3 million Ponzi scheme over the past year, promising investors double-digit monthly returns at little to no risk.

  • The Raleigh software firm Pendo introduced its AI services platform.

  • A tornado in Rocky Mount damaged a Pfizer facility which the company says produces nearly 25% of Pfizer’s sterile injectables in U.S. hospitals.

  • A select number of Durham residents can learn coding for free at North Carolina Central University.

  • On Sunday, Canada began accepting applications from high-skilled visa workers living in the United States. Within 48 hours, Canada reached its 10,000-applicant limit. This clear demand is an indictment of the current U.S. immigration system, says Miguel Manna of the firm Parker Poe in Raleigh. “Here in the U.S. we operate within a Kafkaesque system to our collective and continued disadvantage,” he said.

UNC-Chapel Hill employee Nayeem Choudhury was accused of running a $9.3 milion Ponzi scheme from Dream Venture Capital Group in Durham, North Carolina, according to federal court documents.
UNC-Chapel Hill employee Nayeem Choudhury was accused of running a $9.3 milion Ponzi scheme from Dream Venture Capital Group in Durham, North Carolina, according to federal court documents.

National tech happenings

Could the whitest white ever created save the world? A Purdue University team engineered an ultra-white paint that could cool roofs and the buildings below.

Everyone hates Apple Maps, right? Well, the once-loathed app has made a comeback, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Google is testing an AI platform that can write news articles. So this will probably be my last week writing this newsletter…

Thanks for reading!

Open Source

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