After rising 19% yr/yr FQ3, Red Hat's billings rose 24% in FQ4 to $565m (well above revenue of $400M), as the company continues benefiting from Linux's server OS share gains. Booking from EMEA rose to 26% of the total, up from 25% last year.
While UNIX to Linux conversion may be winding down a bit, it still has some way to go, and Red Hat thinks Windows to Linux conversion is picking up. Another factor that is not talked about much is the embedded use of Linux and a whole lot of other technologies, it says.
CEO Jim Whitehurst said: "The main drivers of this growth in Q4 were the continued demand for Red Hat's fast growing core platform and application development offerings, including our broad portfolio of middleware offerings."
The channel is increasingly important: for the year, the channel business grew faster than direct sales resulting in an annual mix of 63% from the channel and 37% direct, up from last fiscal year and moving closer to the multiyear goal of 70%-30% split of channel and direct sales.
Red Hat's deferred revenue balance rose 18% yr/yr to $1.29B, after growing 14% in FQ3. Subscription revenue (88% of total) revenue +16% yr/yr vs. +17% in FQ3. Training/services revenue +8% vs. +9%. Opex rose 15% to $280.6m.