DataSync Business News

In my endless search of the web for trends, I found an interesting article about the status of open source and SaaS with some research thrown in by Gartner. We already know from experience that open source and SaaS (Software as a Service) make a great combination, but this article really illustrates the scale. First, open source is getting a lot of traction in SaaS organizations. What’s interesting is that the most important development is value added services on top of open source:

“By 2012, more than 90 percent of enterprises will use open source either directly or as embedded components. The Gartner team believes vendors will use open source code synergistically but direct their primary engineering efforts on what is described as “true value-added features and functionality above the ‘commoditized’ layer of open source software.”

This is closely in line with what we’re doing at DataSync. Open source itself can be difficult and expensive for traditional IT departments to support. However packaging open source into streamlined SaaS environments just makes sense. It eliminates the variables associated with deploying open source on site, and allows just about anyone to take advantage of open source. We’re finding that although open source is great, it needs to be delivered smoothly to be an effective cost advantage:

“By 2012, software as a service (SaaS) will surpass open source as the IT cost-cutting method of choice. Although Gartner believes both open source and SaaS are priced by subscription and low profit margins, SaaS is better positioned because it reduces the requirement for IT technical skills, as opposed to open source solutions, which tend to increase those very same requirements.”

At DataSync, we’ve been drinking the same coolaid. Don’t get me wrong, open source is the best way to develop software. We live and breathe it, heck we’ve got our own open source project. But delivering open source software as a smooth, robust, hosted service just makes sense for everyone. It allows any organization to take advantage of the cost-cutting nature of open software, yet doesn’t require a brainiac support staff to keep the whole system humming along smoothly.

So we’re happy that open source and SaaS are getting married. We’re already RSVP’d for the wedding and reception.