Database, Security, Storage Are Next Layers For Open Source Commoditization

open source

At a panel exploring open source issues at Harvard Business School's annual Cyberposium, executives from IBM, Hwwlett Packard, Red Hat, Sun Microsystems and Microsoft debated a variety of issues related to the future of open source, including growth areas and controversial procurement issues.

All the executives - including one from Microsoft - agreed on one thing, for sure, acceptance of open source and Linux have moved well beyond the operating system stage and are moving quickly upstream.

"We don't know. It'll grow," said Dan Frye, director of IBM's Linux Technology Group. "But the VCs [venture capitalists ] are calling again. There's been an evolution in the thinking that open source doesn't have a business model."

"It's a commodity line, and the commodity line is moving up," said Stormy Peters, HP Open Source Program Manager, noting that the Apache open source project gives the industry a free web server so vendors can build value-added layers on top. "Linux is commoditizing the OS layer. How far can that line go? I don't think we can see it yet."

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One venture capitalist on the panel said database and security software are ripe for commoditization. "MySQL is worth watching carefully," said Asheem Chandna, a venture partner at Greylock Partners, San Mateo, an investor in Red Hat. "A second one is SourceFire, which is developing security software using the open source model, open source intrusion detection."

Linux leader Red Hat acquired storage software vendor Sistina Software in December and plans to use its ample $1 billion cash reserve to invest in other open source projects and fund future acquisitions.

"We see storage as an area which is ripe for a new round of commoditization," said Michael Tiemann, Chief Technology Officer at Red Hat, who later told CRN potential areas of interest include security, database, application development and messaging. "We now have a lot to invest and we'll be looking."

Simon Phipps, Chief Technology Evangelist at Sun, which last month shipped its Java Enterprise Desktop with StarOffice 7, said the desktop and groupware areas are next layers for growth

"We're seeing the open source operating system taking steps on the desktop," said Phipps. "OpenOffice is having a huge impact on the global markets," said Phipps. "Open source moves out of the geek space and into the user space."

One Microsoft executive agreed open source will continue to make advancements, but had little to say about where it's going over the next 10 years.

"We agree [open source will grow]," said Jason Matusow, manager of Microsoft's Shared Source Initiative. "There's BSD code in Windows," he said. "It's going to be a hybrid."