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Unisys Predicts 2007 Open Source Trends

Architectural Approaches And Specialized Stacks Will Dominate
By Open Source News
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November 30, 2006 12:00 AM EST
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 12,295
3. SOA and Standards Will Close the Gap between Legacy and Open Systems

Enterprises’ increasing adoption of service oriented architectures (SOA) requiring interaction between legacy and open systems will help to bridge the divide between the two environments, yielding an optimal blend of lower cost and maximum functionality.

With its roots in industry standards, open source software will provide an exceptional value-vehicle for integration of transactions, processes and data as the technology matures in 2007 – especially in complex areas such as high-volume transaction integration between heterogeneous platforms.

4. Open Source Providers Will Boost SI and Channel Distribution Strategies

Enterprise open source buyers continue to evolve from a visionary, easily serviced constituency to an early adopter and mature-state market with more sophisticated requirements. As a result, open source technology providers will necessarily depend more heavily on systems integrators and specialist vertical-solutions providers to distribute their technology in solutions focused squarely on specific industry requirements. Those who build and create stacks will look to channels to go up-market and create an ecosystem around SIs, value added resellers (VARs) and independent software vendors (ISVs) to compensate for their own thin resources in technology support and marketing muscle.

5. The Smart Money Will Be on Driving Business Growth and Innovation

Most organizations see open source as a way to reduce costs – for both technology acquisition and ongoing ownership. Many are now using or will use SOA to drive top line business growth, allowing new services to be deployed for new markets from existing applications or as a more efficient way to develop new applications. Unisys expects far-sighted organizations in 2007 to be looking to open source to develop even more of an “edge” to increase their competitiveness and drive innovation.

Unisys Open Source Solutions: Improving Clients’ Visibility into Their Business

The Unisys 3D Visible Enterprise (3D-VE) approach drives Unisys open source solutions. This approach gives clients visibility into the links among the four key dimensions of their business – strategy, process, applications and infrastructure – and enables them to gauge opportunities, risks, impacts and costs that can block effective execution. Unisys consultants help clients identify the most critical business processes that can benefit from open source, and deploy applications and infrastructure using the best open source tools and Unisys services to help achieve key benefits of secure business operations – breakthrough customer service and satisfaction, improved competitive advantage, minimized risks, improved operational efficiency and more effective cost control. The Unisys 3D-VE approach gives clients a deep understanding of what's possible with technology, along with the critical capability to map it to business problems and solutions to drive tangible results.

Published November 30, 2006 – Reads 12,295
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Most Recent Comments
alex christophe 12/19/06 05:49:57 AM EST

Hi,

It is with great interest I have read your article that -yet again, may only be a reflection in the Open Source light veneer that most large SIs must bear in 2007

The Open Source stacks are packaged in a way to fulfil vertical functions and -to the un-initiated, it may seem that enterprise-ready applications such as backup or desktop management aren't readily available.

The view one must take is that specialist ought to provide best of breed solutions to solve points of pain. And Linux/Open Source Professional outfits can also recognize the importance of proprietary software to solve business problems, the philosophy of which need not be discussed.

These actually do include enterprise network backup solutions like Arkeia, they also do include most of the Novell applications such as ZenWorks, they also include cutting edge and integrated email/ collaboration suites and CRM (Sugar/Zimbra or Sugar/Scalix) etc. True systems integrators work with vendors to help and influence with the development of add-ons, plugins etc to allow for an even tighter and deeper integration. An example of that includes single maibox backup and restore (includes single emails) influenced by LinuxIT, written by Arkeia for Scalix which allows the most demanding customers out there to benefit from everything ground up, from the tin to the tape in the drive that contains the Email, collaboration and CRM data organisations nowadays so heavily rely on.

The support model provided by vendors and large systems integrators is often the main barrier to adoption because it focuses too much on the OS or one element of the stack and looks at the product or piece of software in isolation from the others. From that perspective, we are offered with a disjointed view of the organisation and a potential administration nightmare with too many support contacts, too many vendors and more importantly no experts on deck, merely product specialists.

The comment I couldn't agree with more is the one reflecting on the importance of partnering with Systems Integrators and VARs.
Now, the Linux world appears to consist of two types of the above:
The large SIs who claim to be qualified by pooling self employed resources together offering more of a bureau resource. These structures add very little value and ultimately don't understand how to solve issues out of the proprietary box.
The other end of the Open Source spectrum is composed of 2 to 3 men bands, highly qualified, solutions focused individuals who like to work from their garage or utility room. Would you enterprise put their trust in such an outfit?

Perhaps that is the question that one should ask when talking about Linux, Open Source or systems integration: Who can you trust?

Alex Christophe
Corporate Solutions
LinuxIT Europe
enterprise open source news desk 11/30/06 05:12:58 AM EST

According to Unisys experts, 2007 will be the year that open source software attains the architectural backing and distribution channels needed to gain acceptance from enterprise customers as a front-rank vehicle for deploying enterprise applications to drive business growth and innovation at a lower cost per transaction.
enterprise open source news desk 11/30/06 03:37:49 AM EST

According to Unisys experts, 2007 will be the year that open source software attains the architectural backing and distribution channels needed to gain acceptance from enterprise customers as a front-rank vehicle for deploying enterprise applications to drive business growth and innovation at a lower cost per transaction.