Subscribe to Optaros RSS feedOptaros customers and prospects often ask - with so many open source and commercial products available, and the temptation to do custom development, how should we select which components to use for assembled business solutions. There is no standard answer to this question but we have worked hard to develop a set of guidelines we believe best serve enterprise customers:
1. Optaros collaborates with customers - First of all, Optaros does not select components in isolation, each enterprise has a unique set of circumstances and we understand the importance of working with our customers to select components together.
2. Most business solution architectures are heterogeneous – Optaros finds the optimal architecture for most business solutions is a heterogeneous one – part open source, part commercial, part custom.
3. Architect around business requirements, not components – Optaros creates architectures to solve business challenges. Once an architecture has been created, the guidelines below can be applied at the component level to determine the correct product to use for each component.
4. One size does not fit all – we work with our customers to understand their business objectives, current enterprise architecture, risk profile, technology preferences and current staff skill set to select the best component set for a given business solution.
5. Whenever possible, avoid custom – We believe enterprises receive the best fit solution most rapidly and with the highest ROI when existing components and services are leveraged.
6. Open source products – if the shoe fits, wear it – Optaros assembles business solutions from open source, commercial and customer components. The ratio of these components in business solutions vary greatly. We all hear the stories about the vast pool of open source software available. In addition, we all understand the open source available varies from extremely high quality, well supported products from companies like Red Hat, Alfresco and MySQL, to one week old software developed by three guys and a trick dog. Optaros has used many open source products in building enterprise grade business solutions for customers and, as a result, is in a unique position to help enterprises evaluate and select open source software that will work for a specific enterprise.
We have summarized our view of the open source product space in the Optaros Enterprise Open Source Directory (www.eosdirectory.com). In general, determining if an open source product is the best for a business solution comes down to three questions: Is the functionality I need available in an open source product? Is the component one where the enterprise is interested in leveraging open source? Is the open source product developed, supported and maintained by an organization that meets the enterprise’s requirements?
We see enterprises looking to open source for some applications and application types and not for others. Most enterprises have evolving strategies toward leveraging open source and find Optaros’ experience valuable in this evolution. In summary, open source component selection is enterprise-specific and we strive to use open source when it makes sense for the enterprise.
7. Commercial products – The enterprise software market is well established and provides products valuable in many solutions. That said, the enterprise software market is changing rapidly so product selection is not to be taken lightly. Currently we see several trends in the enterprise software market that should be considered when selecting components for assembled business solutions. a. Software As A Services (SAAS). b. Consolidation in the enterprise software market increasing the importance of the software company due diligence process. c. Open source alternatives impacting software market segments differently.
8. Custom components - go custom to differentiate – Ideally, customer code in an assembled enterprise business solution is only required for components that provide differentiation for the enterprise. If a component is not providing unique functionality that is helping the enterprise differentiate from its competitors and a high quality, component exists, use it.
9. Don’t forget – you already have your own services – Most enterprises have custom and commercial components and services already in production and supported internally. While not always the best fit for a new application we strongly recommend enterprises look to leverage existing internal components and services whenever possible.
Posted 19 Dec 2007 by Brian Otis