A New Era of Service Providers Driven by the Open Source
Software (OSS) and Free Software wave.
By Jean-Christophe Cimetiere - CEO
TechMetrix Research
Introduction
Market evolution-or even
mutation-is nothing new. Thirty years ago, it was the golden age of
hardware manufacturers. These companies built computers and we had to make
do with the software they embedded to develop our applications. We were
entirely locked into a system and upgrading it also meant rewriting most
of our applications.
In the 1980s, ISVs
(Independent Software Vendors) started to appear. At the time, these ISVs
didn't scare hardware manufacturers, but the notion of software really
started to mean something. By the 1990s, client/server
computing came full force and software vendors popped up by the
thousands.
The limited number of operating systems was the driving
force behind this flourishing period: Unix on the server side
(granted, there is still a large number of Unix versions); Windows
on the client side, as it quickly beat out OS/2 et al; and later,
Windows NT on the server side. This small number of platforms
created what could be called, at least in terms of options, a
"standardized" environment, which allowed software vendors to build
"generic" products on top of it. Software vendors quickly became the
kings of the heap. But, this situation wouldn't last long& TOP
Evolution of the Software
Industry
Figure 1: Software Value
Chain.
Software vendors fund their
own research and development. Working in close conjunction with product
marketing divisions, R&D departments decide which direction to take in
terms of future investments and new products. Once a product has been
finalized comes complementary services such as training and support. Even
though system integrators provide the majority of integration services,
some of their services do overlap with those offered by software
vendors.
This situation is not really
troublesome due to the current shortage of IT professionals; there are
enough jobs to go around and it is still in the best interest of system
integrators and software vendors to work together. However, most software
vendors are today trying to leverage their profits in two ways: by
providing more solution-oriented products (opposed to technology-oriented
or single-feature products) and by developing new services. TOP
What's So New About OSS?
Software vendors are no
longer the only source of technological innovation. Today, dot orgs are
also moving the industry forward.
There is nothing different
about the development of an OSS except the fact that its creator (a
person, group or company) decides to make its source code available under
an Open Source License, of which there are several different types and
then creates an organization (.org) as a way of representing it. Once an
OSS has been released, its success depends on the number of users and
contributors it attracts from the critical mass. But here, basic market
rules apply: the OSS in question must meet a particular need and it must
be of good quality.
We have reason to believe that OSS will penetrate most
of the layers that make up an information system. Many software
programs already exist and have experienced different degrees of
success. We can point out the following examples (non-exhaustive
list):
- Operating systems: Linux and Unix BSD.
- Network utilities and services: Samba, Apache, and SendMail.
- DBMS: MySQL, PostgreSQL, and Interbase.
- Languages, development tools and application servers: PHP,
Mod_Perl, Jserv, and Enhydra.
There was a time when
OSS was left to the geeks. Today, hardware manufacturers and
software vendors consider dot orgs real partners (for example IBM
with Apache, SGI and Cisco with Samba).
Of course, end users are not going to free themselves from
their current software vendors by simply integrating the best Open
Source programs; they will still need middlemen. Up until now, these
middlemen have been system integrators and software vendors. Today,
end users have a new option as a new player has entered the playing
field, OSS sponsors and marketers. TOP
Events
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