How can open source software work to retire tech-debt, reduce development time, lower license costs, and improve quality?

1. 3 Critical Questions About Open Source
Transformation Services
Open Source Solutions have Matured, and Many Organizations are Implementing Open
Source Transformation Services – Here’s Why.
OCI White Paper – January 2015

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3 Critical Questions About Open Source
Transformation Services
3 Critical Questions About Open
Source Transformation Services
Back in 2012, TechCrunch, Wired, and several other publications were predicting a
massive movement by many organizations to open source solutions.
The Movement has already begun-- with many companies and government agencies
procuring Open Source Transformation Services (OSTS). But questions still linger in the
minds of some decision makers: What is OSTS? Who is using them, why, and what’s
the return? It’s time to clarify some of the answers.
What are Open Source Transformation Services?
To begin, “Open Source” refers to a development model where the source code is open,
i.e. the program’s design/ blueprint is available and accessible for use or
modification/enhancement by the user. Examples of open source products include:
Linux OS, Mozilla Thunderbird Email Application, Android Mobile OS, and OpenDDS for
real-time data distribution.
OCI’s Open Source Transformation Services practice refers to the process of migrating
a project, department, or an entire organization, to open source solutions. These
services are becoming more and more popular as companies learn more about and turn
to open source solutions.
Why are Organizations Moving More and
More Towards Open Source?
There have been three (3) main drivers behind the
Open Source Movement:
Cost Containment. As Tim Yeaton of Black Duck
Software succinctly put it: “IT represents as much as
20-40 percent of a [business’s] operating costs,
making it one of the largest departments… and an
obvious cost-cutting target.”
A significant portion of the IT budget is software licensing and development. Licensed
software is often costly to purchase, and new licenses have to be purchased if software
is rereleased or upgraded. Software developed in-house, “from scratch”, requires a lot
OSTS
Cost
Containment
Speed to
Market
Technical
Debt

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3 Critical Questions About Open Source
Transformation Services
of IT man-hours. In contrast, open source code is freely available to the public; costs
stem mainly from customization, implementation, and testing. Thus, open source
solutions cost organizations much less over time.
Technical Debt. “Technical debt” refers to accumulated changes that need to be made
to code as business needs evolve, and better ways are found to solve problems, add
features, adopt standards, and generally enhance code (“refactoring”). This leads to
future software releases and “forced” upgrades. Not only are these costly, but they can
needlessly interrupt processes and possibly introduce new problems into working
systems.
Speed to Market. As an organization grows and takes on
new challenges, its technological capability may be a
competitive edge… or a liability. For example, a company
may want to develop mobile applications, take advantage
of the Cloud, develop more integrated command-and-
control systems, or improve analytics and data
visualization under the open source model. New
capabilities may be developed or added right away by any
capable developer—meaning the organization does not
need to wait for the next release of a proprietary software
package to adopt or release new features.
Open source make sense for other reasons as well. Open
source has been around for long enough that most
solutions are just as mature, stable, and secure as
proprietary solutions, if not more so. Unlike licensed
software, open source code is refined by a community of
thousands. Thus, open source code tends to be more
modular, more stable, and better adheres to open
standards, e.g., reusable, modifiable, extendable.
Organizations are also free to deploy solutions as they see
fit, rather than waiting for a large software company to add
functionality with a future release or developing a custom
solution in-house, from scratch.
 Since 1994, the United States
Department of Defense (DoD)
directed that all DoD components
and agencies use open systems
specifications and standards for
weapon systems. To eliminate
licensing fees and vendor lock-in,
and to take advantage of the many
benefits of open source solutions,
the DoD has continuously
extended this open systems
mandate to many other divisions.
 A large shipping and logistics
company, with thousands of users
and multiple external integrations,
is making the switch from a
proprietary IBM Content Manager
to an Open Source Enterprise
Content Management (ECM)
system based on Linux, avoiding
millions of dollars in licensing fees.
MANY ORGANIZATIONS
HAVE MADE THE MOVE
TO OPEN SOURCE:

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3 Critical Questions About Open Source
Transformation Services
Are Open Source Transformation Services Right for Your
Organization?
Of course, organizations can choose not to upgrade their
private-license software until absolutely necessary.
Organizations may add new functionality by purchasing
new products or developing their own proprietary software
in-house. They can try to save costs by delaying necessary
upgrades or maintenance or attempting to re-negotiate
contract terms with their vendors. But each of these
options costs significantly more than adopting,
implementing and maintaining open source solutions.
If you are interested in learning more about the benefits of
an open source transformation service, we recommend:
 Doing a runtime licensing audit. If you know your
licensing costs and can estimate how much they will
increase in the future, you can calculate how much
IT spend will go to these licenses. Most companies
find that this cost runs far higher than an open
source implementation solution. (If you would like to
work with a professional partner to conduct such an
audit, please contact us.)
 Considering open source for new initiatives. If
your organization is considering mobile applications,
cloud-based solutions, new control systems, or even
just a new software purchase, please consider the
possibilities and benefits of open source solutions.
If you have a particular project in mind, and you would like to know if open source is a
viable option, talk to a software engineer—preferably one that is not a current vendor.
Nothing beats an unbiased opinion from an expert.
 A global financial services company
with over 2,500 servers supporting
its massive financial network
presently uses a mix of Solaris and
HP-UX commercial operating
systems. The cost of supporting
these systems, which is a function
of the CPU core size, has become
astronomical. The company is
making the switch to open source
Linux-based systems, allowing
them to “own” the software and
avoid licensing fees that would only
grow as they added capabilities.
 Another client needed to grow from
40 intelligence mapping systems to
400 such systems worldwide, a
move that was estimated would
cost the company $8M-$10M in
licensing fees. The company made
the decision to replace its
proprietary systems with an open
source solution, eliminating all
licensing fees and enhancing
functionality.
MANY ORGANIZATIONS
HAVE MADE THE MOVE
TO OPEN SOURCE:

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3 Critical Questions About Open Source
Transformation Services
OCI—Open Solutions Engineering Done Right, When You Need It Most.
OCI partners with clients to assess, design, architect, engineer, manage and support Mission-
Critical, High Performance and Real Time systems. Our goal is to make IT solutions more open,
scalable, reusable, interoperable, and affordable. Please visit www.ociweb.com to learn more
about our service offerings, open source middleware technologies, and professional IT training.
If you would like to learn more about OCI’s Open Source Transformation Services
practice, please contact us.
12140 Woodcrest Executive Drive, Suite 250 Saint Louis, MO 63141, MO
tel: 01*314*579*0066
email: info@ociweb.com
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