Open source maturity
curve and ecosystems
Tony Bailetti
Systems and Computer Engineering and
Sprott School of Business
Bailetti@sce.carleton.ca
Eclipse Summit
October 29, 2009

1. Motivation
• Increase value from engaging with open source
projects and vendor-neutral business ecosystems
• Use ecosystems to solve very different problems
• Reduce cost and increase speed and flexibility of high
diversity, multi-player collaboration
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Agenda
1. Value from open source
2. Business ecosystem components
3. Use ecosystems to create and retain tech jobs
4. Takeaways
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2. Value from engaging with OS project
Value for
company
5. Redefine
4. Co-create
3. Build new
2. Extend
what exists
1. Use &
promote
Engineering
Effort
Business
0. Deny
How company chooses to interact with OS projects
determines value it can extract
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4

Authority and effort increase with levels
Business
Level 4
Co-create
Level 1
Use & promote
Products
Market
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Value to community
Value for 5. More ecosystem
company links & resources
4. Greater commitment to
healthy ecosystem
3. More new applications, greater
project participation & leadership
2. More features, better quality
1. No change in code, more users & awareness
Effort
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Engagement of 163 Eclipse members
• 65 operate at just one level, 98 operate combinations
• None just Co-creates or Redefines
• 4% just Use & promote 14
22 13
• 67% do not Co-create 12
0
10
0
• 10% operate in first four levels
28
31 9
• 18% Co-create and do one
other level 6 16
2
• 5% Co-create, Extend what is,
Build new
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Perspectives about Eclipse
Value for 5. ???
company
4. Concurrently advance
multiple projects & integrate
3. Create & drive adoption of new
applications that use Eclipse platform
2. Add features to existing applications
1. Use to develop or as part of deployment stack
Effort
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2. Business ecosystem’s 5 key components
1. Keystone
2. Niches collaborate 3. Customers pay for market
Out of box
to develop base platform
offers that rely on base element
element
Services
Company N $
IP regime . Customer
. Mk
Base element .
offer
Company 2 $ .
Governance Customer .
.
Company 1 $Mk
offer Customer
Mk
offer
X XZ XYZ Z
5. Ecosystem health
4. Member types • Diversity
•Productivity
Companies & individuals use an out-of-the-box platform •Commitment
(assets, processes, norms) to create and deliver value to •Predictability
customers, partners, themselves, and community
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Notes
• Ecosystem types
Eclipse
• Base element:
Defense
departments
software, hardware
Linux
design, process,
content, scientific
knowledge
• Ecosystem is more than a development community
Money + governance + IPR, not just development
Rewards performance of multi-organization collaboration, not
developer collaboration
Scale depends on member size and diversity, not just number
of talented developers 10
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Keystone’s main responsibilities
• Out of box rules to collaborate and compete
Compete: Build competitive differentiators for
which customers are willing to pay
Collaborate: Platform for which
Base element Work with others to produce base
keystone is
elements
responsible
• Attracts talented volunteers to collaborate
• Recruits members
• Develops and fosters adoption of base elements
• Provides governance and IP regime
• Delivers services to ecosystem members
• Maintains ecosystem healthy 11
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Benefits of business ecosystems
Small and medium size businesses Governments
• Access to deal flows and • Attract and retain knowledge jobs,
opportunity fulfillment innovative companies and private
investment
• Customer pull for rapid innovation
• Attract significant resources to
• Share business development and focus on government priorities
R&D costs
• More resilient to external shocks
• Fast and favorable access to and economic downturns
sophisticated capabilities
worldwide • Create systemic change required
to move to new economy
• No lock-in by powerful companies
• Shape what exists into a system
• Lower cost of entering markets in that produces outcomes with high
which they can’t operate today impact
• High quality mentoring • Higher return on government
investment with less risk
• Common process across sectors
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3. Problem in Canada’s Capital Region
• Tech-sector employment from 72,400 in May 2000 to
53,100 in August 2009 (~30% drop)
• Lost 8,600 jobs over past 12 months
• Venture capital investment from $1.3 billion in 2000
(74 deals) to less than $24 million in 2009 (1 deal)
• Fallout from Nortel’s bankruptcy
• No large company expects to create jobs
• All three levels of government unprepared to deal
with tech meltdown in region
• 1,800 tech start-ups, small number of mid size, 1 IPO
in last 20 years
• Families and community hurt 13
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Response: Ecosystems
?
Pervasive Net
Auto
Lead to Win VE Mobile Media
Coral Apps
$400 k CEA
$37 M
• 4 phase process
• Each company in Each vertical ecosystem to operate
phase III creates 6+ multi million $ specialized asset
tech jobs • Building blocks
• Services:
• Co-creating using sandbox
• Talent Talent First • Lead projects
• Open source Network • Knowledge and dissemination
stacks $2 M
• Business development
• OSBR.ca • Commercialization
# of technology jobs created
$ risk capital invested
# of students educated for creative economy
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Overview of three ecosystems
Mandate Base Success Scope
element
Lead to Win Launch and grow • Wealth • # tech jobs Region
technology creation • Amount of risk other
businesses process capital investment regions
Coral CEA • Provide member • Software • # tech jobs Canada
(Communications companies assets in $15.3 • Amount of risk  Global
Enabled building blocks, M sandbox capital investment
Applications) commercialization # apps that use
support and out Sandbox
of box process to • # new CEA
differentiate offers companies
• Fill gaps in • Keystone income
commercialization
Talent First • Thought • Open source • # tech jobs Province
Network leadership stacks • # companies that
• Fill gaps in • Knowledge make money from
commercialization open source assets
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• # grad students 15

LTW largest provider of incubation services
1. Keystone
2. Niches collaborate to 3. Customers pay for market
Community
develop base element centric out of offers built on top of or
box platform extension to base element
66 Founders Services Company 49 $
25 Contractors . Customer
Base element: . Mk
42 Reviewers • mutants .
offer
14 Faculty • opportunities Company 2 $ .
Customer .
7 Alumni Governance Company 1 $Mk
.
6 Service providers offer Customer
Mk
5 Recruiters offer
9 Strategic 42 Associates
4. Member types
5. Ecosystem health
• # of tech jobs
• Amount of private investment
• #, diversity and rate of introduction of market offers
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• Keystone’s income 16

New wave of ICT innovation
Components +
Coral CEA Large
1. Sandbox
prototype environment Competitor
2. Lead projects Services
SME3
3. Commercial
services European
Customer
4. Knowledge &
dissemination
x
x
x
5. Business US Orchestrator
development
x SME1 • $15.3 M Sandbox
Keystone SME4 Whole • $10.5 M cash
x SME2
x
x product • ? Member fees
Members
• Ecosystem provides small company proprietary advantage to compete
against large suppliers
• Most benefit to companies that are small with no brand recognition and no
money to absorb development and distribution costs
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Talent, stacks and thought leadership
Ontario Talent First Network
Carleton
Technology
Innovation Lead Customers
Content suppliers Management • Provide requirements
• Create useful information • Validate ideas
• Stimulate customer interest • Contribute ideas for improvements
and foster community • Become users of new commercial
products
Capital Suppliers
• Government, venture capital Innovators
• Monetize innovators’ new offers • Creative individuals interested in starting and
growing new businesses for the new economy
• Generate revenue for themselves and other
Serial Entrepreneurs ecosystem members
• Experienced repeat • Extend value of Ecosystem tools and platform
entrepreneurs
• Provide advice and guidance
• Enables commercialization of market offers that rely on
open source assets (e.g., SW, HW, process)
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4. Takeaways
• Ignore business ecosystems at your peril
• Ecosystems can:
 Harness innovative individuals worldwide
 Launch and grow technology companies
 Create and retain jobs and attract private investment
 Enhance experience of graduate students
• Knowing how to establish and enable business
ecosystems is a key competitive advantage
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References
• Bailetti, Antonio (2009) Business ecosystems: new form of organizing
creative individuals worldwide. Carleton University Alumni Conference
in Toronto, February 12.
• Bailetti, Antonio (2008) Ecosystem approach to commercialization of
technology products and services. TIM Lecture, March 28.
• Carbone, Peter (2007) Value derived from open source is a function of
maturity levels. Partnership Conference, April 19.
• Carbone, Peter (2009) Emerging promise of business ecosystems.
Open Source Business Resource, February.
• Hurley, Brian (2009) Enabling the creative entrepreneur. Open Source
Business Resource, August.
• Lombardi, Stephen (2008) Interaction between Eclipse Foundation
members and Eclipse projects. Carleton University thesis, Department
of Systems and Computer Engineering.
• Milinkovich, Mike (2008) A practitioner’s guide to ecosystem
development. TIM Lecture, September 3.
• Moore, James (2006) Business ecosystems and the view from the firm.
The Antitrust Bulletin, Vol 51, No. 1, Spring 31-75.
• Skerrett, Ian (2008) Building technology communities. TIM Lecture,
June 4.
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Thank you!
www.carleton.ca/tim
www.leadtowin.ca
www.coralcea.net
www.talentfirstnetwork.org/wiki
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