Session 6 - The Myths of Support and Development - Presentation Transcript
Making Open Source a reality Nick Dimant – Managing Director PTFS Europe
Agenda
State of the LMS market
What does going open source really mean?
The role of PTFS Europe
Implementation services
Conclusion
Current state of the Library Management System market
Stagnant, mature market
A few main vendors
Domination of private equity companies
Confusion over product direction
Discontinuation of systems
Current Frustrations
Slow pace of development (low ROI)
Patch and mend
Little new development
Functionality lag
Lack of Web 2.0 capability
Ageing technologies
E.g. Unicorn/Symphony 30 year old technology
Declining levels of customer service
Increasing costs
Powerlessness
Is open source the answer?
Benefits of open source software
Next generation technologies
Impressive functionality
Access to source code
Gain support of world-wide community
Freed from lock-in of proprietary systems
Benefit from other users' customisations and contributions
There are companies who will help implement and support
Better value for money
Remove dependence on a single supplier
Software is free
Kittens are Free
Open Source is Free?
There is a cost of ownership
Staff time
Support costs
Infrastructure
So, it’s not free, but ....
Lower implementation costs
Cheaper on-going costs
Freedom to move between vendors
Freedom to develop what you want
Freedom to collaborate and share
Freedom to move quickly
But no one uses open source? Application Originally Released Fact Apache Web Server 1995 Serves 49.12% of all websites – June 2008 Linux Operating System 1991 Market share of new and used PCs running Linux is expected to grow from 3% in 2003 to 7% in 2008 Mozilla Firefox 2004 19.46% market share – September 2008 OpenOffice 1999 98 million downloads as of September 2007 – maybe 20% of business market MySQL 1995 25% market share, 50,000 downloads per day Java 1995 Today's six million Java developers are one of the largest communities of software developers
Market share
OSS LMS is now largest single source of new name installations in North America – outstripping proprietary vendors
Good presence in Indian market
Good presence in France
Minimal presence so far in UK
Where is OSS successful?
Where there are capable local support bases:
USA
Canada
India
France
Australia and NZ
The leading provider of digital archiving solutions in North America
Formed in 1995 - desktop imaging, integrated library systems and custom search systems
First release of ArchivalWare digital archiving solution - 2000
ArchivalWare 4.2 released October 2008
June 2008 – Support of open source library management software
PTFS Customers – Partial list
Libraries – Public
• Whittier Public Library
• Independence Township Library
Libraries - Government
• National Library of Medicine
• U.S. Geological Survey
• Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
• Naval Research Laboratory
• Department of Justice
• U.S. Marine Corps (16 locations World Wide)
• U.S. Air Force
• U.S. Army
• U.S. Attorney’s Office
• Department of State
• Library of Congress
• Administrative Office of U.S. Court
• U.S. Customs Service
• International Trade Commission Library
• Army Heritage Education Center (AHEC)
• Department of Labor
Associations
• International Monetary Fund (IMF)
• American Chemical Society
Libraries - State
• Utah Government
• New Hampshire State Library
Libraries – Academic
• Southern Oregon University
• National Defense University
• George Washington University
Government Institutions – non-library
• National Archives and Records Administration
• Department of Interior (Labatt)
• Department of Defense (Joint Chiefs)
• National Security Agency
• National Institutes of Health
• Office Secretary of Defense (OSD)
• National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA)
Museums
• Smithsonian Institution
• Museum of African American History
SirsiDynix
USA: Public and Academic Libraries,
Government Institutions, Commercial
International: (Canada, New Zealand, Chile,
Greece)
Commercial
• National Geographic
• Chicago Tribune
PTFS Europe
A company formed to distribute and support the software products of PTFS, Inc
Local presence
Local expertise
Local training
Local support
Focused on European context
Backed up by major US presence
PTFS Europe – ArchivalWare Customers in 2008/9
York St John University
Department for Communities and Local Government/ Department of Transport
Planning Inspectorate
Council of Europe
Irish Parliament
European Southern Observatory (Koha)
PTFS now Implement, Host & Support Open Source ILS software
Open Source ILS software
Evergreen or Koha LMS
SaaS or standalone
Significant cost savings
Fast development
Major benefits
PTFS Europe and Equinox
Overcoming barriers
No one championing open source?
Budget holders or corporate procurement do not see open source as a viable alternative?
Financial constraints?
Everyone happy with their proprietary library system and ILS supplier?
How PTFS Europe can help
Centre of excellence for open source LMS software
Wealth of experience in library automation
Commercial organisation with proven track record
Migrating
Changing your LMS is a MAJOR undertaking
Most libraries are simply unable to do it for themselves
Most libraries only change system every 5 – 15 years
Makes no sense to do it yourself
Involves completely different skill set
Need major, varying resource input for short period of time
You may never do it again
Procurement
Procurement can be a major obstacle:
PTFS Europe can make contractual commitments
Tender response
Functionality
Timescales
Cost
Support contract
It is not just the software
A new kind of business environment
A new kind of business model
Collaboration between OSS suppliers
Partnership between supplier and customer
PTFS: a business for the 21 st century
Virtual office
IM, Skype and web conferencing
Virtual switchboard
Virtual infrastructure
Outsourced accounts and finance
Very low non-salary costs
No commuting overhead
Relies on having high quality staff
Major price advantage over the 20 th century companies
Partnership with customers
The staff at PTFS Europe have outstanding experience in implementing and supporting library management systems
The most successful OSS projects are often based on a partnership approach between supplier and customer
Share the work
Share the development
Reduce the risk
Reduce the cost
Reduce the workload
Retain autonomy
Implementation and Support Services from PTFS Europe
Offerings
Implementation
Ongoing support
Hosting (SaaS)
Consultancy
Partnership
Implementation package
Project Management
Installation and configuration of LMS
Data conversion and loading into LMS
Implementation workshop
Training
Custom reports
Custom programming
Advanced configuration
Ongoing support
Web based:
Open calls
Update calls
Review calls
Close calls
Phone for critical calls
Managing Open Source
Updating code repository
Keeping up to date with developments
Applying bug fixes
Annual upgrades
Hosting
We manage the server for you
You still manage and control your LMS
We upgrade the LMS
High class data centre
Secure
Resilient
365 days a year, 24/7
Annual fee
A survey November-December 2008
Carried out by Ian Haydock, Keele University
The use of Open Source software by UK Higher Education libraries
We are unaware of what software is available (9)
We need software which is not currently available via Open Source (4)
We don't have time or staffing to set up these applications (19)
We don't have time or staffing to maintain these applications (23)
Paid-for systems offer better support in a crisis (8)
Our institution restricts use of Open Source software (4)
Why doesn't your Library make more use of Open Source software?
We are unaware of what software is available (9)
We need software which is not currently available via Open Source (4)
We don't have time or staffing to set up these applications (19)
We don't have time or staffing to maintain these applications (23)
Paid-for systems offer better support in a crisis (8)
Our institution restricts use of Open Source software (4)
Why doesn't your Library make more use of Open Source software?
Why doesn't your Library make more use of Open Source software?
Conclusion The advantages of working with PTFS Europe
Gain the advantages of open source software
Benefit from high quality implementation and support services
Companies are now established to help libraries ado more
Companies are now established to help libraries adopt Open Source software solutions without the need for in-house support and development staff. Nick describes the ways in which a company such as PTFS Europe can help overcome some of the procurement, implementation and support barriers preventing the more widespread adoption of these solutions. less
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