It’s funny how hitting “major milestones” can generate pride and humility with equal intensity…   Our  announcement  this week is a great example.

500K downloads in less than 2 years on Sourceforge is exciting. We are thrilled by the worldwide adoption and rapidly growing roster of Enterprise subscribers (including several household names).  Given the many choices in closed and open source for IT monitoring/management, we are proud that Zenoss has  risen to the top. This uptake is driven the by the very real desire in IT for a better/easier way to manage their infrastructure.  Success in attracting community and commercial users is our best validation that we are doing something interesting and relevant.

The additional $11M in venture capital also feels good.  We now have the fuel we need to continue to drive innovation, enable the community and expand our footprint.  This also shows that financial investors see a compelling business here. Like other successful commercial open source companies, we believe that an open, community-driven approach is symbiotic with building a business and driving change. For the community and commercial clients, the additional investment means that we will be around for the long haul, and we have the resources to take everything we do to the next level.

All of this being true and positive, we are well aware that we are still in the early stages of having the global impact that we set out to achieve. While we have come a long way from Erik coding alone in his basement and in his boxer shorts, there is plenty more to do along the road towards “making IT easy”.

Thanks to all of you for your help over the last 2 years.  Voting with your clicks, wallets and words, you have put Zenoss on the map.

We look forward to working with you in continuing to build something new, different and worthwhile.

Now that we have enjoyed the moment, we are squarely focused on the next set of milestones/goals/releases. We are both inspired and humbled by what's next.  I hope this chapter is as rewarding as the last.

Bill, CEO & Co-Founder