Over the past decade, the open source software community has grown from a fringe movement into being a part of the technology industry establishment. Its ideas about sharing code and opening up the source - once derided as naive or dangerous - no longer seem radical, and even the most conservative companies now run at least some open source software in some corner of their data centres.
And yet, open source vendors and developer communities appear to just be getting started. With the Linux operating system and Apache Web server now fixtures in data centres around the world, open source advocates have set their sights on the middleware and systems management markets as the next opportunities for growth.
Perhaps no company articulates the respectability that open source software has achieved more eloquently than Red Hat, which last year became the first company that makes its money from selling and servicing open source software to achieve more than $1 billion in annual revenue. That's small change compared to the revenue made by Microsoft, Oracle or IBM, but it does prove that open source software is a commercially viable product.
Ten years ago, Red Hat shocked the market when it decided to bottle a commercial variant of Linux for enterprise customers, says Muggie van Staden, CEO of Obsidian, one of South Africa's first resellers and integrators of enterprise open source software. "Now, there's enterprise open source everywhere," he adds. "I don't think there's a stock exchange in the world that doesn't run Linux, and Google and Facebook probably couldn't exist without open source software."
Tending the beehive
Van Staden turns to the beekeeper analogy to explain how commercial open source vendors have commoditised the software market. Like bees, the open source community is industrious, but largely uninterested in packaging its work for commercial resale. The beekeeper - the vendor - bottles the value, but needs to be sure he does so in a manner that doesn't upset the bees.
The community offers the front-line support, but the vendor mitigates the risk of open source software by creating a bundled product with warranties as well as certifying open source platforms with independent hardware and software vendors, says Matthew Lee, regional manager for Africa at Suse. One such example is an alliance Suse has forged with Microsoft to ensure its products deliver interoperability with Microsoft products. "The customer wins at the end of the day," says Lee.
Embracing enterprise open source solutions is no longer a question - it's a survival tactic.
Sven Lesicnik, MD, LSD Information Technology
The flexibility of Linux, thanks to its open source code and open APIs, the advent of low-cost, high-performance x86 servers, the scalability of the operating system, and low barriers to entry have all helped to drive adoption of Linux in enterprise data centres, says Lee.
"The truth is that embracing enterprise open source solutions is no longer a question - it's a survival tactic," says Sven Lesicnik, MD at LSD Information Technology. With SMEs and enterprises rushing to adopt open systems, those left behind with expensive legacy systems will be at a disadvantage.
It's not just about cost, however. The seventh annual Future of Open Source Survey in the US this year found that better quality software, freedom from vendor lock-in and flexibility all trumped acquisition and operational costs as reasons for adoption of open source among enterprise IT users.
Trends sweeping across the IT industry are only set to make open source software even stronger. Cloud computing, mobility, social media and big data form 'a nexus of forces' driving the growth of open source software because they all demand the ability to deliver technology services in a flexible, scalable and cost-effective manner, says Johann Evans, CTO of Cherry Olive.
Further up the stack
A Linux Foundation Survey in the fourth quarter found that Linux is the dominant platform for cloud computing today, with nearly 75% of enterprises planning to maintain or increase its use for future cloud and big data initiatives.
And other open source tools are becoming as central in the big data and cloud environments as Apache Web server is to the Web. "A lot of open source tools have proven to be superior to proprietary vendors in terms of innovation," says Lesicnik. "Apache Hadoop, for example, wouldn't be possible without the work of the open source community."
The next step for open source is to go further up the value stack and replace proprietary middleware, virtualisation, and systems management solutions, says Van Staden. As the biggest commercial open source vendor, Red Hat is leading the charge.
Red Hat today isn't just a Linux company, but aims to offer an end-to-end infrastructure solution to its clients, says Michel Isnard, EMEA VP at Red Hat. Its product portfolio has grown to include storage tools, virtualisation solutions, and middleware offerings such as JBoss.
Cloud computing, mobility, social media and big data are a nexus of forces driving the growth of open source software.
Johann Evans, CTO, Cherry Olive
"Open source middleware platforms have matured a lot. We're seeing companies look to replace Tibco, Oracle and IBM tools with JBoss," says Lesicnik. It's not uncommon these days to find enterprises relying on open source application servers, rules engines, and enterprise service buses.
Open source systems management tools are the next wave. Puppet is the most popular among a wide range of open source tools that automate provisioning and change management for cloud computing environments.
Earlier this year, Puppet Labs secured $30 million in backing from VMware and will work with its funder to provide new IT management solutions for use in VMware IT environments. This is just one example of how open source software is being woven into cloud infrastructures.
"Elastic cloud environments will be the focus for the next 10 years," says Van Staden. Again, Red Hat is making substantial investments here in creating hybrid cloud solutions that offer on-demand capabilities, elastic scaling, hassle-free automation, resource pooling, and measureable results.
First published in the September 2013 issue of ITWeb Brainstorm magazine
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