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The open source movement is gaining momentum as the economy continues to struggle. Now’s the time to take advantage.
July 2009
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 Dear Inner Circle readers,
CIOs and IT professionals across the globe today face the daunting task of doing more with less in a weak economy. In times of turmoil, technology provides a means of growth and a source of new business opportunities.
The open source movement — and open source communities — have changed the way people develop software, how they acquire it, and what they do with it to create value. Open source is fueling a “Participation Age” that lets innovators stand on the shoulders of technology giants to fuel their own success. The challenge for CIOs is to identify the opportunities, see them for what they are worth in the eyes of their customers, and adapt their business models.
The move to open source infrastructure provides greater flexibility, innovation, choice — and massive savings. With the adoption of open source software on the rise, particularly in China and India, Gartner predicts that by 2010 it will account for 20 percent of the global software market, displacing over $100 billion in revenues from traditional software vendors.
As IT costs grow and the economic crisis puts pressure on global IT budgets, open source becomes irresistibly attractive to IT decision makers who are being asked to do more with less. Meanwhile, proprietary vendors react by increasing license fees by 15 percent to 45 percent. These vendors continue to lock in their customers, and they take away choice and flexibility across the enterprise technology infrastructure. Every IT decision maker today is faced with increased licensing and support costs for complex proprietary solutions. Now is the time for IT leaders to make a loud and clear choice — and take advantage of the cost-effectiveness and freedom of open source software.
According to Gartner, in the coming years open source will continue to expand its influence among Global 2000 IT enterprises. Adopters will continue to receive benefits from open-source solutions, but these benefits will be increasingly realized by advantages in investment protection, innovation and technology alignments, rather than by simple cost savings alone.
According to Gartner, in the coming years open source will continue to expand its influence among Global 2000 IT enterprises.
If a rising tide raises all boats, then open source software is the next big tide in the world of technology. Open standards-based solutions give businesses increased compatibility and the freedom to select the components they want, to build their infrastructure from a wide range of vendors who support the published standard. There is an element of hardware neutrality as well. The widespread adoption of commodity hardware and the massive scale in the datacenter presents a unique opportunity for open source. A move toward standardization permits flexibility and cross-platform interoperability for customers to merge systems and introduce efficiencies in their datacenter.
For Sun, the open source community model is the natural vehicle for ongoing innovation. The more people join and participate in the community, the more potential there is for all of the participants to derive value from the shared work.
The new world of open source communities provides an opportunity to think differently. New information and communications technologies allow more and more people to contribute their own genius; the network offers new opportunities for collaboration. Openness is not an absolute moral value that must prevail in every circumstance. But its extraordinary capability to harness the collective intelligence of our world requires us to consider its implications carefully, nurture it where possible, and avoid efforts to foreclose it without compelling reason. We should not miss the opportunity to harvest the benefits that openness brings.
Anil Valluri
Vice President & Managing Director
Sun Microsystems India
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