It's said that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Vyatta, an open-source competitor to Cisco and Juniper, has now taken of several recent steps toward commodifying the existing networking software market, including a deal with the New Mexico Court System.
The reason for choosing Vyatta over Cisco and Juniper? As described in a case study (PDF), Vyatta delivered great functionality at a super-low price, according to Sam Noble, senior network system administrator, New Mexico Courts:
The No. 1 reason we went with Vyatta was the flexibility and the peace of mind, knowing that if we came up with an issue, we'd have lots of avenues to address it from...We considered using Cisco 2600 routers or a Juniper firewall and VPN, but both of those fell short in some key areas.
I downloaded and tested the Vyatta software and found that it gave me all the features and functionality I needed, great performance and, hands down, the most flexible system around. After test-driving the software, I knew I had found the ideal solution in the Vyatta open networking appliance.
New Mexico Courts went into the evaluation assuming it could save money, but the most important thing that Noble relates is the key enabler in the process: a free and unobstructed download. As I've noted before, that download is the key to derisking IT investment, one that is getting CIOs' attention in a recessionary economy.
Why should a prospective customer take a risk on software when they can know well before they buy - if they buy at all - that the software will work? This is the new face of sales, and it's something that open source like Vyatta delivers.
Part of Vyatta's value proposition is all the cost savings and flexibility Noble identified that comes after the implementation and sale. But the initial value proposition is that organizations like New Mexico Courts System don't have to rely on a vendor to spoon-feed them value. With a free download, the enterprise owns the future of its IT.
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Vyatta, the open-source networking company, has been turning on the heat lately against Cisco, the networking giant. Even as Cisco expands beyond its networking base with collaboration products, Vyatta's sole focus remains beating Cisco network performance at rock-bottom prices.
And yet, as called out in a recent TechTarget article, Vyatta's biggest obstacle may well be Cisco's strong brand:
Tony Iams, an analyst with Rye Brook, N.Y.-based Ideas International, said the networking market continues to grow, but Vyatta faces a challenge because Cisco has such a strong brand name, and companies are reluctant to gamble with networks because they are so critical to operations.
"Open source can be disruptive with a cheaper product," Iams said. "But Vyatta has to overcome a lot of skepticism and reassure customers that they aren't sacrificing quality."
Here's a suggestion of how to do just that: remind CIOs that the world's most demanding network (aka "The Internet") runs open source, and that even Cisco is boosting its network product line with open source-powered routers. If it's good enough for the Web, and good enough for the top network equipment vendor powering that Web, maybe Vyatta isn't such a risk, after all?
With over 20,000 downloads per month, a number that is dramatically higher than Vyatta was seeing in early 2008, Vyatta seems poised to do well through the financial downturn. The ironic thing is that as Cisco pushes more of its products to Linux, it may actually end up seeding the market...for Vyatta.
The big news from the networking world is that
As Dave Roberts of open-source Vyatta points out, all that glitters is not gold when "openness" is on the table:
Juniper started the love-fest with "openness" on Monday with the announcement of its Partner Solution Development Platform (PSDP). Essentially, if you're a big company, and Juniper decides that you're worthy, Juniper will give you the privilege of signing an NDA and paying it yearly fee in order to develop applications that will run on the control plane processor or line cards of its router.
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In this seventh installment of the Open Source CEO Series, I talked with Kelly Herrell, CEO of Vyatta, the open source network software company (router and firewall).
I first bumped into Kelly back in 1998 when my employer (Mitsui Comtek, the high-tech subsidiary of Mitsui & Co.) invested in Cobalt Microsystems (Linux microserver company acquired by Sun for $2.1 billion). I bumped into him again years later when he was running operations and strategy for Monta Vista, an embedded Linux pioneer.
Kelly is one of those people that you respect even when he's kicking your tail (as was the case at Monta Vista - I was at rival Lineo). Once known for being "the world's best-dressed Linux backer" [Correction: I inadvertently linked to an article on Peder Ulander, who dresses much better than Kelly, though I do have to say the first time I met Kelly he was wearing a green shirt and matching green shoes :-) ], Kelly's reputation is now right where it should be: a tier-one open source executive.
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