I think it's a great thing to see the big analyst firms recognize open source products and companies as key players in today's software world. The fact that Gartner has named MuleSource as a "Cool Vendor in SOA Governance" obviously speaks to the quality of the software, but also to the fact that the analysts who have typically been less open source focused (versus say, Red Monk) are realizing the massive impact that we are having on the market.
According to Gartner, "The cost, complexity and potential vendor lock-in of closed-source technology from infrastructure platform vendors have pushed the desire for open-source technologies past operating systems, application servers and enterprise service buses."
If you read into the Gartner quote, they are now also setting themselves up to be able to talk about open source applications and other infrastructure components. The times sure are changing.
Mule Galaxy is available for download and is licensed under the GPL v2.
Disclosure: I work for MuleSource.
The second part of my interview with Sarah Lacy over on Yahoo Tech Ticker is now live.
This time I explain what MuleSource (my company) does and discuss some of the other open source companies that I like, including Alfresco and Digium.
Next time I go on I plan to discuss why SaaS and open source are the only ways to build software companies going forward.
I spent all of last week working on Mule product announcements (please to enjoy the world's first open source SOA Governance Platform) and the new MuleSource website which left nary little time for blogging.
However, we did manage to find time to record the latest episode of Open Season. This time we touched on Adobe's OSS works, Red Hat's new CEO and the realm of the Mule.
And yes, I do want a new MacBook Air.
Before I was a big-shot executive, the end of a year meant rest and relaxation. Now it's crunching fourth-quarter numbers and budgeting for 2008.
A friend in Japan read my fortune and told me that 2007 was my year of "turbulence," that 2008 is my year of "reunion," and that 2009 is my year of "wealth." Supposedly, 2010 will be "peace and stabilized," but at the rate I am going I can only hope to make it that far.
One full calendar year later, I am still happy that my company (MuleSource) gives software consumers a choice about the technology they use and ultimately, we, like the rest of the open-source vendors, bet on the fact that adoption eventually equals dollars. Having been a software consumer that felt burdened by proprietary products for most of my career, I retain a strong desire to flip the software industry on its head.
There is an inevitable flow of events in which software companies will either get on the path or be left behind. If you start a software company today that is not SaaS or open source you are betting that the market will somehow revert to 1999. And I think we all remember what happened in 2001 here in the valley.
Two years after founding this company I believe more than ever that open source is a question of when, not if.
... Read moreI am in Tokyo this week as we launch MuleSource in Japan. Pics and posts to come as I recover from the 11-hour flight. Somehow I managed to forget my watch, so I am not convinced that the flight was only 11 hours. It felt like multiple lifetimes.
At our Wii-off last week several people asked me if they should start considering expansion into global markets and specifically Japan. The answer is if your company is doing less than $10 million in revenue, probably not. The reason we're going for it is because there is a big push of SOA and open source and we found ourselves a great partner to work with and act as our reseller.
The big question you must ask yourself if you choose to set up sales in another country is whether it's worth it (meaning, will you get dollars?) There is a significant advantage for both OSS and SaaS companies for international expansion vs. BigCos that have expensive sales staff and marketing efforts to undertake. The downside is that expansion takes your focus off of where the money is at the moment. To smooth the economics you need to use a partner or other channel to get your offerings out into the world.
Here are the questions we asked ourselves at MuleSource (reminder: we are open source):
Do we have users? And, if so, what is their stage of deployment?
Generally speaking for the U.S., we've found that users need the most help while moving from development to production. In the U.K. it seems more like users wait until something breaks before they get involved with support subscriptions. In Japan we have users that are self-sufficient, but large companies do the majority of their IT work through systems integrators who are also VARs.
Do companies pay for open source in this geography?
This is a tough one. In many markets asking if people pay for Red Hat Linux vs. do they pay for JBoss ends up with very different results (RH yes, JBoss, no.) Regardless, going into a market that has no history of paying for OSS means you will have to educate during the sales process, which introduces overhead that you don't want to carry.
Do we have salespeople or a method by which to sell in this region?
To the extent that you can go international with inside sales, you should. However, certain markets like the U.K. are often channel driven, which means you need feet on the street. In Japan, it seems like you have to have SI partners.
Can we support the customer timezone?
This depends on how you set up support and applies more to OSS than SaaS.
What is the difference in relationships versus the U.S.?
This is by far the hardest thing to figure out. Do cultural differences play a role? Do you have to take the buyer to play golf? If you are in Japan do you have to go out for cocktails?
If all of these items (and the other things you figure out to ask) pass muster, here are a few tactical quick hits that can really bum you out:
- Tax implications--international tax laws and things like VAT
- Currency rates
- Material ownership
- Legal items like contracts, etc.
- Employment rules (Germany and Italy, for example)
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