Open source's next frontier

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The company has certified that its stack runs on Intel's IA64 processor, used in server hardware, and it's trying to sign on hardware providers to bundle and distribute the Joe suite. At a price of $3,500 a month for support and regular software updates, Joe will undercut both established Java companies as well as Microsoft, argued Gluecode CEO Winston Damarillo.

"The market is stunted with the cost of software on the server side," Damarillo said. "We're making that zero."

The market is stunted with the cost of software on the server side

--Winston Damarillo, CEO, Gluecode

The Geronimo application server has a modular design, which lets customers install add-on products such as a portal and integration software as needed, he said. Gluecode also sells management software to ease installation and administration.

SpikeSource and SourceLabs both intend to offer services around the so-called "LAMP" stack of open-source software. The stack includes the Linux operating system, the Apache Web server, the MySQL database and PHP development tools.

JBoss, too, sells consulting and support service around freely available software. The company has an application server that is popular with Java programmers, and it's expanding the number of products, including a workflow server, that it develops and supports.

Apache, ObjectWeb and JBoss are each developing separate middleware products based on their respective Java application servers and have different open-source licenses. JBoss recently certified that its software adheres to the Java 2 Enterprise Edition, or J2EE, standard. Geronimo and Jonas are seeking J2EE certification as well.

No dents yet
So far, big commercial software companies deny that open-source alternatives are eating into their market share and profit margins. In fact, Sun Microsystems said it has considered making editions of its Java application server suite available as an open-source product.

Although open-source middleware still accounts for only a fraction of the total market, overall use of open-source applications and of Linux continues to grow. More than 80 percent of big companies surveyed say they have at least some Linux deployed within their organizations, according to market researcher Gartner.

And there's a well-established pattern for open-source adoption. Take Linux for example: First used on commodity hardware servers in the 1990s for simple tasks such as Web or file servers, Linux is now mainstream and provide a low-cost alternative to Unix or Windows for everything from departmental servers to high-end computing and desktop software.

Open-source Java application servers, databases and development tools are also rapidly making their mark. JBoss, which sells support for its namesake application server, and open-source database company MySQL have gained in popularity over just the past year.

The one issue holding back wider acceptance of both Linux and open-source applications is just how much risk big companies are willing to accept, according to a Gartner report issued last month. That risk includes support for a hodgepodge of applications from a variety of sources. That support is what Gluecode and others are looking to provide.

The other problem area is intellectual property and the risk of legal troubles, which will continue to challenge wider growth of Linux and open source over the next five years, Gartner has said. Some companies, including Red Hat and Novell, have begun to offer legal protection for their Linux customers.

Alfred Chuang, CEO of BEA, said earlier this month that open-source Java application servers, notably JBoss, are not taking business away from his company at this point. "We don't see anything in deployments in enterprises at all. It's not in any way or shape a threat to us," he said.

The question is the level of integration across the stack, up and down.

--Martin Taylor, general manager of platform strategy, Microsoft

Martin Taylor, Microsoft's general manager of platform strategy, agreed that once a number of open-source middleware components are assembled, "it starts to look like our stuff." But, he said that most customers do not want to spend the time and effort to integrate low-level software. He noted that companies also need to consider whether packaged applications are certified to run on open-source software.

"It's not a matter of whether something does or doesn't exist in open source," Taylor said. "The question is the level of integration across the stack, up and down, and the amount of work to tune and build on top."

But software that's good enough is finding a home within businesses. And there's likely room for both proprietary and open-source approaches within the same company. Henry Peyret, an analyst at Forrester Research, said that open-source middleware projects typically focus on the low end of the market, rather than pursue the most advanced features, as commercial companies do. As such, open-source products do not always compete directly with established products, he said.

"Some customers recognize that they prefer some good-enough products, even if it does not have all the features," Peyret said. "If they want to have these specific features, they prefer to put in commercial products for that niche, not the overall enterprise."

Going with open-source middleware products does require willingness to accept risk and some in-house technical skills, Manes noted. Open-source projects could conceivably fizzle out, and the reliability of commercial support is not always clear.

"There is a cultural issue as to whether a given company is willing to invest the amount of effort in support and take the risk of using this open-source technology versus going with IBM," she said.

[katamari]

Stacks? Ugh.

Please don't use the word "stacks" to describe software suites or groups of related software applications. Just say no to industry buzzwords.

All you'll do is remind people of the infamous Trumpet Winsock "STACK"...

[Ubber geek]

Winsock

http://www.analogstereo.com/eagle_talon_owners_manual.htm

[katamari]

Stacks? Ugh.

Please don't use the word "stacks" to describe software suites or groups of related software applications. Just say no to industry buzzwords.

All you'll do is remind people of the infamous Trumpet Winsock "STACK"...

[Ubber geek]

Winsock

http://www.analogstereo.com/eagle_talon_owners_manual.htm