- http://livestream.com/internetsociety/inetcolombo2015/videos/89728458
To realize the promise and to grow beyond third world status, Sri Lanka need to explore new markets. Being a small country, we could not compete with more people, rather we need to compete on the quality. In other words, we need to build Sri Lanka brand. Talking about the brand, very few Sri Lankan's knows that Sri Lanka are well-known for open source contributions. Among key highlights are Apache Axis2 and other Apache Projects, first in the world in terms of google summer of code awards for 5 years, and Shahana Disaster recovery Project. In this talk, I will tell the story of those opensource projects, their impact, and how we should replicate those to seize the future.
2. Sri Lanka, where do we stand?
Positives
- High Human Development Index (73rd)
- Good education
- Good English
People 20m 8m
Land Area (km2) 65,000 41,000
GDP per capita ($) 4,000 80,000
Language Sinhala, English,
Tamil
French, German,
Italian
3. Role of S&M Businesses
British empire 18-19th century wanted
control over trade. E.g. Opium wars. That is
due to 1/3 sales tax on all sales.
Similarly to develop, we need businesses in
Sri Lanka
- They pay tax
- They pay salaries
- They bring in foreign exchange
LK Market is not big enough for economics
of scale. Most businesses need to look
elsewhere for market.
it is just good business
4. Why SL Brand?
Sri Lanka cannot compete on services
( economics of scale works against us,
and we are not that poor).
- Service companies => revenue
proportional to number of people
We need product companies
- Product => brand
Ceylon Tea has brand, but before
Dilmah LK did not profit much
We do lot of textile, but do not own
the textile brands
Brand: people need to want
to consume your products
and services and prefer you
as a place to live and learn
--Country Brand Index (2014-15)
5. Quality over Quantity
Quality let you build a brand
Creative High Margin Pursuits
- Protected by Intellectual Property,
Barriers for Entry, High risk
80% of money comes from < 10%
of people
"The quality remains long after the
price is forgotten”
--Sir Henry Royce
6. Why IT and Opensource?
IT is 3.5 trillion dollar industry with high
margins
It touches on every aspect of our life, and
called the third pillar of science
Opensource and businesses
- 78% of runs on open source
- 64% participates in open source projects
- 66% give priority to a open source option
( see Simon Phipps’s talk,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0D
m5W-8psI )
7. Success Stories
Sri Lanka has played a major role
in opensource in last 10 years
Two success stories
Axis2 and other Apache Projects
Sahana
8. Have you used Axis2 recently?
- Brought something in Web (e.g. Amazon or Ebay?)
- brought a Plane ticket
- Made an payment
- ..
9. History: Axis Mora
Axis, well known Web Service
framework
Four of us (Dimuthu, JK, Paven,
myself) were, first interns at LSF
Axis Mora
- 10X performance over Axis
- Enough to convince key Axis
players to start Axis2
10. Building Axis2
SEDA funding (2004)
- Team of 7 from LSF (Sanjiva, Eran, Ajith,
Deepal, Jaliya, Chathura, Srinath)
- Several Axis committers
- First F2F and Second F2F
40 committers from LSF, Unv of Moratuwa,
IBM, Sonic, WSO2 ..
1.0 release in 2005
WSO2 started in 2005 ( now a 500+ people
company)
11. Sahana
It originated in Sri Lanka after the
2004 Tsunami
Deployed in over 25 countries
Currently used by 9 different
organizations including Red Cross,
UN, national and local governments.
Free Software Foundation Award for
Social Benefit - March 2007
featured in BBC TV Documentary the
"Code Breakers"
12. Impact
Sri Lanka is well known in opensource
communities
10 apache members and 100+ committers,
most new gradates are now apache
committers.
Have about 20 finished PhDs and 40+
reading for PhDs at MIT, Princeton, UCSC,
Purdue, Georgia Tech etc. and 10+ going
every year (it was about 2/ year when I was
graduating)
13. Impact (Contd.)
MRT 1st on Gsoc in 7 years in row ( SL
265 students over 9 years)
Axis2 Broke speed barriers for Web
Services
Companies like WSO2 taking on top
brands
People who works for top brands
(Amazon, Microsoft .. )
People coming back, I talk to PhDs who
want to come back very often
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ana_carrington/5165645847
14. Onward Ho
Need to think long term and
make big bets
Need to find high impact projects
Need to think global
Need more companies, need
entrepreneurs and VC funding (
need to think about private sector
differently)
We need more from the cream of the nation!!