Open Source and Offshoring: Two Disruptive Forces Begin to Converge?
I was reading an interesting blog note Open source meets off-shoring where Steve Hamm comments on the recent announcement by the database company Ingress to go offshore “I think this is a significant announcement. It will make other players take heed--both on the open source software side and within the Indian tech industry.” Tom Berquist, CFO for Ingress is equally upbeat about the trend in his blog stating how the “Two Disruptive Forces Begin to Converge” Tom says:
When they work with our products they can get started immediately using the open source GPL license, without having to procure a commercial license. After they build and test the application (and fully understand the load characteristics) they can purchase database support subscriptions from us that tie directly to the number of servers they need to purchase. Nothing is wasted, and the software-related costs are deferred to the end of the project. This is a huge advantage to the customer and the services firm, and we believe that over the course of time all development will be done on open source technology even though some of the production deployment will continue to be done on commercial software.
Satyam's Sadagopan is naturally upbeat about the viewpoint. He blogs 'I particularly like the way Tom has captured the rationale behind the rise of the offshore service firms.'
Agreed that Open Source and Offshoring is a "potent combination" for businesses to pursue. However, I wonder what’s new in this announcement?
A few examples of how Infosys is managing and working on Open Source projects leveraging on the offshoring strengths:
- Supporting open source development communities in India: "Infosys Technologies Ltd. is happy to support the Free and Open Source community by becoming the Gold sponsor for Linux Bangalore/2004".
- Research and publications: Wikipedia quotes how Infosys has contributed to various open source initiatives. "Computer scientists working at Infosys have contributed to the Mozilla community by inventing a new browsing concept called LiveURLs. Infosys has also worked with the Linux community in adding support for the EDB9312 (ep93xx based) development board developed by Cirrus Logic in the Linux kernel. This was later accepted by Linus Torvalds and incorporated into Linux." On similar lines publications from Infosys researchers include the tutorial: Using Open Source for Enterprise Search
- TOGAF: Infosys is an active member of the Open Group Architecture Framework (TOGAF) forum . Many probably missed out the news item “
148 Infosys professionals get TOGAF certification” "Infosys Expands Enterprise Architecture Capabilities with Record Number of TOGAF Certified Architects" The largest number of professionals with this accreditation at any one company in the world" [I am also a TOGAF certified Enterprise Architect]
On a personal note, I have also been working with clients in customizing open source solutions for their specific needs, in one instance helping cutting edge deployment of ServiceMix Enterprise Services Bus (ESB) and Apache Geronimo web server. I was ably supported by our offshore research team from SETLabs specializing in these and other technologies.
At the end of the day offshoring and open source frameworks are ‘business enablers’ that can help organizations leverage technologies to meet business goals. How you leverage the “Disruptive Forces” depends…Press releases and hoopla over offshoring and opensource aside…Proof of the pudding, as the adage goes, lies in the eating.
Comments
Great post. It is a fascinating topic to me for a number of reasons. First of all, to a large degree the frameworks India has built up trust with in its marketing are arguably antithetical to the open source phenomenon (e.g. CMM). So for the broader offshoring market, the benefits may need to be driven from the client side (I have personally initiated such changes as a consultant from the client side). In addition, the disruptive nature of open source work flies in the face of the heirarchical tendencies of many Indian companies. In an open source environment, a fresher or relatively junior resource can be the most talented member of a group, but there may be resistance to this if talent is secondary to position. I could go on, and the issues are hardly all about Indian Mgmt, but I have to get back to work. Just found your blog and hope to see more on this topic though.
Posted by: Michael | February 20, 2007 05:20 PM
Thanks Michael,
You are right: to a large degree Offshoring companies have built up trust and positioning which may be "antithetical to the open source phenomenon"
This said, there is little reason why both don't coexist. Kind of similar to Open Source tools/solutions/framework entering corporate IT even while bulk of systems are licensed and supported the ‘traditional way’
Of course, one would need a real good crystal ball to forecast how the trends will converge in the future. :-)
Posted by: Mohan | February 22, 2007 02:13 PM
Mohan,
Thanks for your post on my blog on the same topic.
I believe that software outsourcing firms have an opportunity to give back to the community by contributing to OS initiatives. Good to see Infosys' contributions to the OS community and adoption efforts.
This is only the tip of the iceberg. Open source is gaining momentum fast and wider acceptance of the OS in enterprises will inevitably result in growth opportunities for companies that are active participants in open source projects.
Posted by: Subhash | June 3, 2007 06:49 AM