Open source is not for wimps. Some of the most savvy technology users are embracing open source software to meet their needs: from developing solutions faster to reducing costs to conserving energy and reducing maintenance. These users have applied open source in innovative ways to overcome data centre challenges and rediscover value.
Take John O’Hara, for example. A senior architect and distinguished engineer at JP Morgan, he launched Advanced Messaging Queuing Protocol (AMQP) as an open source project after years of frustration at developing front- and back-end processing systems at investment banks.
The same problems of connecting systems together would crop up with depressing regularity, O’Hara said. Each time the same discussion about which products to use would take place. And each time, the architecture of some system would be curtailed to allow for the fact that the chosen middleware was expensive.
Finally, O’Hara took a stand. He embarked on a quest to standardise message-oriented middleware (MOM) technology to enable mission-critical applications to send messages to each other in a reliable and scalable manner. O’Hara made the leap of faith and broke with the past by using the Open Source Development Model to start the AMQP project.
Best examples
One of the best examples of how OSDM works, with its principles of collaboration, community and shared ownership of knowledge, is of course, Linux. O’Hara tapped into the resources of open source development house, iMatix, and Open AMQP was built. Today, there are several open source as well as proprietary implementations of AMQP.
For help with managing the issues of open intellectual property, O’Hara turned to Red Hat. It was important to ensure that everyone contributing to the project had the authority to do so, and that there was a paper trail from every potential owner of IP through to the group effort. The intent to share must always be clear, even in draft revisions of specifications. O’Hara’s cautious approach resulted in a contract that clearly committed members of the working group to promote unrestricted, open middleware through AMQP. The approach holds true for all open source projects.
Eric von Hippel, professor of innovation at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, calls the AMQP Project a perfect example of “user-driven innovation”. Open source software projects, he says, are exciting examples of complete innovation development and consumption communities run by and for users. Today, users such as Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Borse Systems partner with IT vendors such as Cisco, Red Hat and Microsoft in the AMQP consortium.
Alternative path
Under current recessionary conditions, open source offers organisations an alternative path to technological innovation that does not compromise their strategic IT goals. It enables users to leverage the latest, most robust standards-based software without the corresponding development investment. Leveraging open source cuts development costs while still delivering a robust product.
Users that have adopted open source tend to belong to industries where software is instrumental to their ability to compete, such as telecommunications and financial services:
- Verizon consolidated and standardised its SAP and PeopleSoft Enterprise Resource Planning applications on Linux to reduce costs, increase performance and prepare for growth. The company now runs its servers more efficiently, with minimal need for additional equipment, bolstering Verizon’s extensive energy conservation efforts.
- Union Bank, the 16th largest bank in the US, based on assets as at 31 March 2009, migrated its operating platform from AIX to Linux. At the same time, it switched to open source middleware to support its mission-critical applications at an improved price, greater performance and less up-keep. Union Bank used open source solutions to increase time to market, reliability and return on investment.
- GEICO (Government Employees Insurance Company). This insurer chose an open source enterprise application platform to reduce total cost of ownership by more than 30 per cent. At the same time, overall resource utilisation dropped from above 50 per cent to under 10 per cent, enabling GEICO to gain significant room to scale without having to acquire additional hardware.
- Hilti Corporation, a technology provider to the global construction industry, employs almost 20,000 people in more than 120 countries around the world. Hilti standardised on Linux to handle its SAP ERP and SAP Customer Relationship Management applications, with more than 5TB of data. Hilti migrated its critical systems from a UNIX based system to Linux and global file system (GFS). The migration delivered increased application performance, reduced electricity costs and provided the company with a long-term platform strategy.
- The Massachusetts Convention Center Authority (MCCA) owns and oversees the operation of four major facilities, including the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center (BCEC). It claims to be the eighth busiest convention centre in North America. Together with an open source consultant, MCCA rebuilt its event management system. The system, known as ShowBiz, helps streamline the detailed process of setting up large-scale events, and is now completely run on an open source stack that was designed and assembled by its consultants. About 90 per cent of the MCCA’s day-to-day operations now run on open source solutions.
These organisations have deployed open source software for a variety of sound business reasons that go beyond its lower price as compared with proprietary alternatives. According to IDC, open source is increasingly a part of the enterprise software strategy of leading businesses and mainstream adoption is gaining pace. The fact that large software vendors such as HP, IBM and Oracle are supporting open source products has greatly boosted mainstream adoption and acceptance of open source.
Gery Messer is president, Red Hat Asia Pacific/Japan.
