1. ManageIT
Adopt Open Source
Software To Beat
Tight Budgets
In times of economic crises, it is wiser to adopt open
source software than to spend hundreds and thousands
on buying proprietary business applications. Moreover,
open source software leaves a lot of room for you to
customise according to your needs.
criteria. Yet often, successful
evaluation doesn’t get converted into
procurement due to limited funds.
T
echnology selection doesn’t Whether the economy
work the same way for an is booming or going bust,
individual evaluator as it uncontrolled IT expenses can burn a
does for an organisation. Individual hole in a company’s pocket. During
evaluators burn the midnight oil an economic downturn, IT budgets
>> Key BenefITs to find the best technology to solve are often slashed to cut costs.
 Know how FOSS is different from freeware
the problems that organisations According to a survey by Forrester
 Adopt FOSS to scale up your IT infrastructure
within a lower budget, and enhance encounter. On the other hand, Research, more than 40 per cent
productivity technology selection from an of large businesses had already
 Check out interesting case studies where organisation’s standpoint involves a cut their IT budgets in 2008 due to
FOSS helped cut IT spending
comprehensive 360 degree selection the global economic slowdown. In
BenefIT / March 2009 / 23

2. ManageIT
such a scenario, it becomes hard Open source gains Maintain efficiency and
to meet different operational popularity productivity at lower budgets
challenges within limited Many companies across the Adopting FOSS can help
budgets, while keeping the globe have already saved huge an organisation in enhancing
company abreast in technology. amounts of money by adopting productivity within a much
But technology adoption would open source software. Gartner, an lower budget. The last economic
look more attractive during information technology advisory downturn in 2001 forced E*Trade
sluggish conditions if the desired firm, predicts that by 2012 more (an online stock trading company)
technology were available than 90 per cent of enterprises to reduce its IT spending by a third.
at 10-20 per cent of the cost. worldwide will deploy open source The company’s chief technology
Discounts are always welcome in software in one form or another. officer adopted open source
this competitive world but FOSS Another study from Forrester technology and the decision
(Free and Open Source Software) Research has shown that CIOs helped the company in saving $13
could be treated as an even regard its low cost as the main million a year. In January 2009,
better option. FOSS is different driver for open source software. a Silicon Valley-based company,
from freeware. Marketcetera, announced the
While the latter is proprietary release of an open source
software that’s made available automated trading platform for
free of cost, it’s usually not traders, hedge fund managers and
available for study or source code brokers that offer new features that
modification and subsequent include robust yet complex event
redistribution. But FOSS gives Dr A P J Abdul Kalam
processing (CEP) capabilities and
you the liberty to study, modify enhanced strategy development
the source code and freely “In India, open source for faster testing and deployment
redistribute the modified version, code software will have of algorithms. Such software
which makes the software to come and stay in a would surely be advantageous for
available at very little or no cost. big way for the benefit financial institutions looking for
According to the OSI (Open of our billion people.” technology driven business at a
Source Initiative): much reduced cost.
“The basic idea behind open Former president of India Dr. The Electronics Corporation of
source is very simple. When A. P. J. Abdul Kalam supported Tamil Nadu Limited (ELCOT) took
programmers on the Internet can open source software a long time an initiative sometime back in 2007
read, redistribute and modify the back. In one of his speeches on a to adopt Linux and saved around $5
source for a piece of software, visit to IIIT (International Institute million in the process. Desktops for
it evolves. People improve it, of Information Technology), schools in villages that used to run
people adapt it, people fix bugs. Pune, he said “Further spread of proprietary software earlier were
And this can happen at a speed IT, which is influencing the daily replaced with SUSELinux and other
that, if one is used to the slow life of individuals, would have a open source applications. Along
pace of conventional software devastating effect on the lives of with this, servers to host government
development, seems astonishing. society due to any small shift in the applications were also migrated to
We in the open source business practice involving these open source software. Apart from
community have learned that proprietary solutions. It is precisely the savings on software licences,
this rapid evolutionary process for these reasons that open source the hardware investments with this
produces better software than software needs to be built, which initiative was brought down by 25
the traditional closed model, would be cost-effective for the per cent. Other central government
in which only a very few entire society. In India, open organisations like CDAC and NIC
programmers can see the source source code software will have to also use open source software to
and everybody else must blindly come and stay in a big way for the accomplish many projects. The
use an opaque block of bits.” benefit of our billion people.” Malaysian government also adopted
24 / March 2009 / BenefIT

3. ManageIT
open source software last year Go for FOSS
and saved $12 million. So the next time you think of
The InterContinental Hotels putting up a hefty amount to buy
Group has adopted Linux – the commercial licenses, you must
JBoss application server and prefix the term “open source” to
Mysql/PostgreSQL open source the solution you require before
database servers, to reduce its doing a quick Google search.
IT spending. To consolidate the Keywords like “open source
data of its 4000 hotels, the group operating system”, “open source
decided to adopt SugarCRM, database server”, “open source
an open source customer network monitoring system”,
relationship management “open source chat server”, “open
application. Forrester database source mail server”, “open source
analyst Noel Yuhanna said that PBX”, “open source IDS”, “open
open source databases can source Photoshop”, etc, can help
now meet about 80 per cent of you find open source alternatives
existing business application to fit your technical and business
needs. “Some customers requirements.
are running mission-critical
transactional deployments with FOSS gives you the
over 3 TB of data on open source liberty to study or
databases, while others are modify the source code
running very large workloads that and freely redistribute
support hundreds and thousands the modified version,
of concurrent users,” he wrote. which makes the
Forrester Research also released software available at
a report stating that companies very little or no cost.
can save around 25 per cent of
their database costs by adopting Before adopting FOSS,
the open source database organisations need to be aware of
system and can further reduce licensing, support, distribution,
another 25 per cent by deploying acquisition and other aspects of
the software on commodity FOSS governance. FOSSBazaar.
hardware. org serves this purpose and
Many more companies provides plenty of information
around us are already saving on the subject. Finding the right
millions by utilising the power skill-set to deploy and support
of open source software to enjoy open source software is no longer
more freedom in customisation, a nightmare; you can either
security, reliability and efficiency. directly approach the open source
The Central Bank, HPCL, Central software company, its channel
Railways, Air India, Rolta India, partners, or find an open source
Virgin Mobile, VSNL, Reliance consulting company in your area
ADA, Bharti Telesoft, Luftansa, to help you with the deployment
Omax, Parsavnath, FM Travel, and the on-going maintenance of
Godfrey Philips, Jindal Steels, JK the software. 
Technosoft, etc, are just a few Dhruv Soi
names from a long list of open The author is the founder and principal consult-
ant, Torrid Networks, and chair, OWASP India. He
source users. can be reached at: dhruv.soi@torridnet.com
BenefIT / March 2009 / 25