The Hindu Business Line : `More enterprise users may look to open source'

According to Unisys experts, 2007 will be the year that open source software attains the architectural backing and distribution channels needed to gain acceptance from enterprise customers as a front-rank vehicle for deploying enterprise applications to drive business growth and innovation at a lower cost per transaction.

Forecasting the year ahead, Unisys executives predict that architectural approaches to open source will begin to predominate, with enterprise open source buyers turning to systems integrators (SI) who can give them the blueprint to create and manage an infrastructure aligned with their business strategy that integrates appropriate open source elements and optimises their performance.

Other predictions

Other predictions include emergence of specialised stacks that will drive a new direction for business applications - the LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP/Python/Perl) stack, focused on general functions such as operating environment and database services, has until now formed the foundation for most open source projects. The status quo is about to change dramatically.

"In 2007, we'll see a rise in more differentiated open source stacks for specific purposes, such as business intelligence, content management and output management," said Mr Ali Shadman, Vice-President and General Manager, Open Source Solutions, Systems & Technology, Unisys, in a release issued by the company.

"Each specialised stack will constitute a `black box' - a plug-and-play; minimally configurable building block designed to fit naturally in modern data centre environments and accomplish a single job from the outset," he added.

SOA is expected to close the gap between legacy and open systems. The smart money will be on driving business growth and innovation, added the release. Most organisations see open source as a way to reduce costs - for both technology acquisition and ongoing ownership. Many are now using or will use SOA to drive topline business growth, allowing new services to be deployed for new markets from existing applications or as a more efficient way to develop new applications.