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August 18, 2006
• Vol.28 Issue 33
Page(s) 29 in print issue
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Open Source Gaining Corporate Acceptance
As Products Mature, Companies Are Taking Them Seriously
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There are a lot of clichés about free stuff. Most of them are not great. Things like “you get what you pay for” or “nothing good comes for free” would lead you to believe that free products, by definition, are inferior to more expensive products and should be avoided.
When it comes to software applications, this outlook does not necessarily hold true. Open-source software provides a number of options that are often as good, or better, than their commercial or retail competition. Traditionally, executives and network administrators have frowned upon most open-source software for one reason or another. The reality is that budgets are tight and open-source products have matured, and companies should start to consider open-source products for their networks.
 The Changing Corporate Culture
Corporations in general are starting to be more accepting of open-source solutions as a viable alternative. According to Sonny Discini, senior network security engineer for the Montgomery County Government in Maryland, “Open-source tools are being given stage time in popular data center publications and are no longer considered the work of amateur coders. In addition, budgets are tight so businesses are integrating in free solutions that perform the required tasks.”
Bernard Golden, author of “Succeeding With Open Source” and CEO of Navica, a provider of consulting services to help companies implement open-source solutions, says, “Hardware costs are plunging, which means more individuals have the means to write software; the spread of broadband means more people can easily communicate and share software; and, of course, both of these mean that people all over the world can collaborate on software to mutually create high-quality products. Beyond the infrastructure developments, the enterprise software model is being challenged by high vendor operational costs, customer antagonism to what seem like arbitrary vendor decisions (end-of-life decisions on products, mandatory upgrades, etc.), and market saturation, so venture capital is flowing to lower-cost models like open source.”
The result of this collaboration and growth in the open-source industry has been an influx of programs that are capable of enterprise-class operation and can be considered alongside established commercial products when exploring new software options.
Open-Source Options
Across the spectrum of applications used in a typical corporate network or data center, many viable open-source tools can be used. Aside from established open-source tools such as Apache (Web server), Snort (IDS), NMap (port scanner), MySQL (database), or Wireshark (packet sniffer, formerly known as Ethereal), there are emerging tools to help manage other network functions as well.
Network management. Data centers need to keep an eye on network resources and be able to monitor and manage them. Many companies rely on commercial packages such as HP OpenView or IBM Tivoli NetView. However, the open-source community provides a number of very robust options as well. Products such as Nagios (www.nagios.org) and OpenNMS (www.opennms.org) provide enterprise-class network management solutions to meet the needs of most data centers.
Backup management. Competing with products such as CA BrightStor, open-source tools such as Amanda (www.amanda.org) provide a cost-conscious alternative to managing backup and recovery in an enterprise. A recent startup called Zmanda (www.zmanda.com) markets a commercially packaged version of Amanda, with training and documentation, providing a cost savings over commercial products but with some of the bells and whistles traditionally missing from open-source products.
CRM (customer relationship management). Managing and maintaining customer relationships is a key component for any successful business. Products such as Siebel CRM or PeopleSoft CRM (both owned by Oracle now) or Salesforce.com Enterprise Edition are widely used for this purpose. But cost-conscious small to midsized enterprises that can’t handle the investment in products such as those can turn to open-source solutions such as SugarCRM (www.sugarcrm.com), a commercial open-source package with most of the same power and functionality for a fraction of the cost.
Telephony. Along with telephony solutions from Avaya, Lucent, and other commercial providers, companies can also take a look at open-source packages such as Asterisk (www.asterisk.org). Asterisk has seen significant growth and media attention, but there are also other open-source telephony packages such as Pingtel SIPxchange ECS (www.pingtel.com), and Signate Telephony Server 5000 (www.signate.com).
Content management. Solutions such as PowerCMS or Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server can cost thousands of dollars. SMEs may want to look at open-source content management solutions such as Drupal (drupal.org), Mambo (www.mamboserver.com), or PHPNuke (phpnuke.org).
Caveats & Pitfalls
While training, documentation, support, and other factors may be missing from many open-source products, this alone should not rule them out. When the software itself is free, it leaves more budget to contract out for these things or develop them in-house. Some bells and whistles may be missing, but because it is open source, you also have the opportunity to develop and implement any bell or whistle you choose, not just the ones the vendor wants to include.
The bottom line, says Ben Rothke, author of “Computer Security: 20 Things Every Employee Should Know,” is to “treat open source exactly the same way as you would for a commercial product.” 
by Tony Bradley
Open Source Maturity Model
It doesn’t really matter if you are evaluating a commercial software product or an open-source offering; you want to make sure it can handle your needs. Not only is it important for the software to have the features and functions you are looking for, but it needs to be robust enough to handle your enterprise and provide adequate training and support opportunities in order for it to be a viable option.
Navica, a company dedicated to helping other companies evaluate, select, and implement open-source software, has developed the OSMM (Open Source Maturity Model). The OSMM is a collection of templates designed to assess and quantify the software, training, technical support, documentation, and other facets so that you can conduct a systematic evaluation.
To learn more about the OSMM templates and how to use them, you can download the OSMM white paper at www.navicasoft.com/pages/OSMMwhitepaper.html. The OSMM templates are available for free from the Navica Web site. You can find them at www.navicasoft.com/pages/osmm.htm. |
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