January 30, 2009

It’s been an interesting time in the technology industry to see four sectors follow very similar maturation patterns.

The Four Are:

All four industries have undergone rapid consolidation in the last 5 years. Cognos being acquired by IBM, iLog being blue washed as well, Documentum going to EMC, Fuego being acquired by BEA and Ellison doing the rest.

Consolidation is a natural stage in the maturation cycle of any capitalist sector. Once the potential market is cornered, the need for innovation diminishes and product portfolios begin to stagnate leading to a reduction in choice and usability for the customer.

The good news for the customer is that many patriachs of their respective industries seem to be noticing this “fait accompli” (Thank you, Mr. Julian Robertson for that vocabular enhancement) and are turning it into opportunity.

Exhibit A, is someone I respect very much - John Newton. By co-founding Documentum, he really defined an industry that I have decidated a lot of my career to. Sure enough, once Documentum got eaten up by EMC, you could sense that the industry was going to suffer a lull in innovation. But that was clearly not the case since John Newton decided not to rest on his considerable laurels and launch Alfresco using the “Professional Open Source” model. It’s been a success, and now, more than ever, it is an option discussed at many a CIO’s table. More importantly though, it appears  to have woken EMC-Documentum out of their slumber and they are going head-first into Web2.0-ing themselves.

Exhibit B, is the former Chairman & CEO of Business Objects - Bernard Liautaud joining the Board of Talend after it acquired a $12M funding round from Balderton Capital. Same story - a consolidating industry, former luminary, pro open source inno-fighter.

Exhibit C, would be Ismael Ghalimi, Chairman & CEO of Intalio.

What all these companies seem to be doing with Professional Open Source - is re-igniting the innovation cycles in their respective industries through disruptive business models.

To a sensible CIO, it is simple - if these Pro-Source players can achieve their operational needs as well as the Closed source candidates + they are financially solvent + they have a solid customer portfolio = they are in the running. For CIOs with a strong handle on their operations, it really isn’t about comparing a master list of features, bells & whistles - but about meeting business objectives through technology.

There used to be a time in our industry when technical innovation was the ONLY way to spawn, grow and succeed. The prevailing reality being validated by Professional Open Source is that most enterprises don’t present problems complex enough to require “pizza with all toppings” approach to procurement. In fact, one can agrue that too many toppings interfere with the flavor profile and become inhibitors.  The priorities are now on proper execution of core capabilities, ease of integration, open standards, support, security & usability.

Pro-Source does those right - keep that trend going!




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