10 Open Source Companies Set to Dominate 2008
The VAR Guy spent most of 2007 blogging about open source start-ups and open source business models. As he looks ahead to 2008, The VAR Guy knows hundreds of open source software providers are seeking to catch on in the corporate market. Here are the top 10 open source providers and platforms that are set to succeed in 2008.
10. Red Hat: An obvious choice, so let’s address them right from the start. Even as Red Hat pushes beyond Linux, the company’s core operating system business hopes to achieve 50 percent server market share by 2015. In its quarter ended August 31, Red Hat’s revenue surged 28 percent to $127.3 million and net income improved to $18.2 million compared to $16.2 million in the corresponding quarter last year. Upside: Oracle’s move into the Linux market has had little — if any — impact on Red Hat. And the Microsoft-Novell alliance pushed many open source advocates into Red Hat’s camp. Challenges: Unlike much of the open source industry, some CIOs applaud the Microsoft-Novell alliance, meaning that Red Hat could face increased competition at the high-end of the market. In the applications and middleware space, Red Hat needs to keep Jboss evangelists happy. And Red Hat’s on-again, off-again, on-again desktop efforts have allowed Canonical Ubuntu (#5 on this list) to gain momentum on the desktop.
9. Untangle: The San Mateo, Calif., startup develops an open source gateway that blocks spam, spyware, viruses and adware. Upside: Alas, plenty of open source firms now compete in the security space. But Untangle is one of the first open source specialists to launch a managed services partner program — which should pave the way for more customer engagements. Challenges: Untangle isn’t a household name yet, and traditional security appliance makers are also moving into the managed services space.
8. WordPress: You may not have noticed, but The VAR Guy, MSPmentor and a growing number of Nine Lives Media sites are hosted on WordPress — an open source blogging platform. Upside: For anyone seeking to launch a personal, professional or commercial blog, WordPress is rapidly emerging as the de facto standard. Challenges: One word… Google. They’ve got a popular blogging platform as well. And you should never underestimate Google.
7. OpenBravo: Enterprise resource planning (ERP). The acronym itself suggests complexity and big expenses. But what if ERP software had an open source foundation available for on-site deployments or hosted deployments? That’s where OpenBravo enters the picture. Upside: Recent acquisition pushes OpenBravo into the point-of-sale market. That’s a natural extension to ERP. Challenges: Headquartered in Spain, OpenBravo needs to ramp up its U.S. operations in order to gain critical mass in North America.
6. JasperSoft: Big companies like Oracle and IBM are buying their way into the traditional business intelligence software market. In stark contrast, JasperSoft is attacking business intelligence using the open source model. Upside: JasperSoft is a natural extension to SugarCRM and MySQL environments (see #3 and #1 on this list). Challenges: Business intelligence isn’t an easy sell for integrators and solutions providers, so JasperSoft will need to work hard to continually extend its partner network.
5. Canonical: Once upon a time, Red Hat and Novell ignored the desktop Linux market, leaving an opportunity wide open to Canonical–promoter of Ubuntu Linux. Upside: Dell now preloads Ubuntu on selected PC desktops. Even The VAR Guy has one. Dell also plans to certify its servers to run Ubuntu. (Yes, an Ubuntu server push is coming.) And Canonical backer Mark Shuttleworth has deep pockets. If you’re new to Ubuntu, here are 50 things you need to know. Challenges: Red Hat and Novell have rediscovered the desktop and are moving back into the market. It’s unclear how much money Canonical makes from Dell preloads. Plus, Canonical needs more VARs to support and evangelize Ubuntu.
4 . Google Android: Get ready for an open software and applications platform that runs across hundreds — or thousands — of different cell phones and smart phones. Sounds pretty ambitious — perhaps too ambitious for most companies. But then again, Android is backed by Google. Upside: Dozens of service providers, software developers, chip makers and other tech companies have vowed to support Android when it debuts in 2008. And a first look at Android (check out this video clip) looks pretty wild. Challenges: We’ve all seen multi-vendor alliances collapse before. And it will be difficult for the 1.0 release of Android to match the initial hype — and quality — of the iPhone.
3. SugarCRM: Annual revenue will double to about $15 million in 2007, cash flow is now positive and company insiders are focused on a longer-term plan for SugarCRM. Upside: Plenty of businesses are frustrated with traditional customer relationship management (CRM) software. And SugarCRM functions well as a traditional on-site application or hosted application. Challenges: Managing growth is the big worry within SugarCRM. Getting to $25 million or $35 million in annual revenue is a near-term annual goal. But longer term, SugarCRM worries about scaling its business to $100 million in annual revenue. The VAR Guy wishes he had such problems.
2. Digium: Take one hot market (voice over IP) and meld it with another hot market (open source) and you’ve created the perfect storm. Digium promotes Asterisk, the open source IP telephony platform. The company recently opened a new headquarters and is expanding its base of channel partners. Upside: Asterisk has gained incredible momentum in recent months. Challenges: Small businesses don’t understand open source and they’ve never heard of Asterisk. Plus, Microsoft and Cisco are busy promoting unified communications to small, midsize and enterprise customers. All of that unified hype could overshadow Asterisk. (But we seriously doubt it.)
1. MySQL: The world’s most popular open source database is an insanely popular — and fast — platform for running Web 2.0 applications. Rumors of MySQL launching an initial public offering have circulated for months. But 2008 could finally be the year that MySQL makes its mark on Wall Street. Upside: MySQL has a customer list — CraigsList, Google, TicketMaster, Yahoo — to die for. Challenges: MySQL also has a rival list — Microsoft, Oracle — to fear.
There you have it. The VAR Guy’s top 10 Open Source Companies Set to Dominate 2008. Sure, he missed a few obvious candidates. And he ignored dozens of potential names. But ignoring vendor hype is one of The VAR Guy’s greatest strengths — or so he claims.
Leaving Novell off a list like this is foolish. SuSE Linux is the preferred server for tens of thousands of businesses. You missed the mark, var guy.
Im interested in seeing what happens with Google Android in 2008. Competing with the iphone is going to be a pretty hard task. I also am interested in seeing if this could be winning solution for Google even though it isnt in Search. Search is what the company dominates in, so this is almost outside the box for them.
WordPress is not a company. It’s Automattic.
Roy,
Thanks for the important correction. Sorry for The VAR Guy’s goof!
[…] Var Guy hasn#8217;t much faith in Novell#8217;s future. Watch this comment which was posted in response to his exclusion of Novell from a list: Leaving […]
Great re-cap, and I’ve book marked this article.
I’m a computing hobbyist – Novel like to say – enthusiast, way back when I ran SuSE, and Novell took over. I felt like I was put in the back seat, and told to shut-up. Linux-wise I moved from Ubuntu to Linux Mint.
One of the things that seems to be missing here is eCommerce. Amazon must have a few ideas of its own. I’ve a few Web Sites, Forums, and gone Blogging with Word Press.
I can’t seem to thing how Google (Blogger) will improve over Word Press in regards to control. I’ve been to Blogger, and you might as well post to My Space.
My points here are:
What is the better eCommerce solution.
You’ve neglected things like “Second Life”.
Who is the ultimate Winner in Linux
Who is the biggest set of losers – that might be another article.
Thanks for that article.
Regards,
JJMacey
Phoenix, Arizona
Where’s Sun Microsystems?
Ah yes, Sun Micro. The VAR Guy was impressed when Sun’s CEO spoke at SugarCRM’s conference. And he was also impressed with Sun’s commitment to open up Solaris. But Sun is a company in transition. Hardly dominant. Hardly fast-growing. But definitely on The VAR Guy’s radar.
“MySQL also has a rival list ” Microsoft, Oracle ” to fear.”
Don’t forget that Oracle is not only a rival but also owns innobase Oy, the company which develops innodb, the most popular MySQL DB engine.
http://www.innodb.com/company/
Which of these spaces does the VAR guy think independent software developers should target as business opportunities? Number 8 is out; too much free stuff already. What about the others?
Leaving Novell/SUSE off the list is very much justified. This company has been bleeding cash for years and not even the deal with Microsoft will save them. Even SCO has a brighter future than Novell.
[…] TechIQ has compiled a list of companies that should be considered succesful in 2008. Here are the companies and their […]
VAR Guy is forgetting Celunite
I don’t think anybody is being “forgotten” as much as we’re quibbling over priorities from different markets. Desktop? In-house server? Hype (née Web) 2.0? Wherever your interest/business focus is, the real news is that Linux is now relevant regardless of focus. It was a lot harder to make that case two years ago, and virtually impossible without resort to zealotry back in 2003. Back then, Linux was such a well-contained niche that it was easy for us to throw together “ten best/biggest/whatever” lists. Now… it’s a niche market that isn’t addressed competitively/effectively in some way with a Linux-based solution. We’ve hit the mainstream, folks; time to think about putting the pitchforks down and start thinking about how we can move forward in this brave new world.
[…] revista online TechIQ tiene un interesante artÃculo donde detallan las empresas Open Source que deberÃan dominar el mercado el próximo año . […]
Reply to comment #10: The VAR Guy would advise software developers to attend major events hosted by MySQL, Digium and SugarCRM in 2008. You’ll find event info on their web sites. Then, start to think about building applications that span all three platforms. An example: CRM call center applications should integrate tightly with VoIP networks.
Reply to #15: Actually, this isn’t a Linux discussion. The open source movement has now pushed far beyond Linux. The real opportunities for VARs and integrators are at the application level, not the operating system level.
[…] touted as a core JBoss advantage that the people that wrote the code worked at the firm. As VARGuy puts it: #8220;Red Hat needs to keep Jboss evangelists […]
Oracle isn’t a rival for MySQL. C’mon … MySQL is still a DBMS toy (not even a RDBMS).
No Novell? They may not have a lot of fans as of late but many many people, including me still use SuSE Linux and they certainly have a large, and growing presence selling to small and large businesses.
You forget Nuxeo, leaders of open source Enterprise Content Management.
John
I think this is a great list… However, as soon as I saw JasperSoft, I looked for BIRT and realized that Actuate Corporation or at least the Eclipse Foundation and the large open source ecosystem behind that probably deserves mentioning as being poised to do well in 2008.
I’m surprised that Alfresco isn’t mentioned.
Sugar being ranked #3 makes our decision to port to Microsoft .NET and SQL Server that much better.
@ #23: You are right — Alfresco nearly made the list. Hot company. If this was a top 20 list, Alfresco would have been a lock for number 11 or 12 slot. Sorry to let you down.
[…] ha escrito un artÃculo en el que pronostica cuales serán las 10 compañias predestinadas a dominar el mundo del software […]
[…] Of course we are VERY disappointed that XAware didn#8217;t make The VAR Guy#8217;s list just published on TechIQ , although since open source XAware was announced only about thirty days ago, I guess it#8217;s somewhat understandable. The Var Guy will probably get us on next year#8217;s list. The VAR Guy spent most of 2007 blogging about open source start-ups and open source business models. As he looks ahead to 2008, The VAR Guy knows hundreds of open source software providers are seeking to catch on in the corporate market. Here are the top 10 open source providers and platforms that are set to succeed in 2008. […]
[…] ArtÃculo completo en TechIQ. […]
[…] TechIQ – Archive – 10 Open Source Companies Set to Dominate 2008 you can always argue with lists like these, but this is definitely worth a read. worth noting that three of the mentioned projects – MySQL, Ubuntu, and WordPress, underpin our business. and that the latter two are clients of ours. (tags: mysql canonical wordpress opensource lists 2008 google redhat openbravo jaspersoft sugarcrm digium untangle) […]
The past year has been marked by a lot of activity in the open source market, and I think you’re right to predict they’re going to be important in 2008! I think as businesses of all sizes (and even just home computer users) start to have more complex needs when it comes to technology, they are in need of many more options to suit them. This is a good list of things to look at for those trying to track what will happen with open source in the coming year, especially IT consultants and others that need to know so they can figure out the best, most sophisticated solution to satisfy the needs of their clients and customers.
what about kde 4,, they are crazy….
This is not to say that RedHat didn’t do well at all.
RedHat just made #1 on the The CIO Insight Vendor Value study for the fourth time in a row.
I believe that RedHat is much more that just a software company – it is a revolution in the way IT departments are run and will be run.
[…] to #8220;The VAR Guy#8221; last week, Digium is #2 on his list of 10 Open Source companies Set to Dominate 2008. Then, on Christmas Day, Mark posted to Digium#8217;s corporate blog some thoughts on the spirit […]
[…] The Best Open Source Business Models Open Source Business Models: a Taxonomy of Open Source Firms’ business models Nuts and Bolts of Open Source Business Models Web 2.0 Expo: Open Source Business Models 10 Open Source Companies Set to Dominate 2008 […]
[…] artigo publicado na TeqIQ o SugarCRM aparece como uma das 10 empresas que irá dominar em 2008 os negócios do open source. […]
[…] TechIQ. nbsp;Email This Post […]
How can you forget Drupal and Acquia?
VAR got it right picking and OS BI vendor – he just picked the wrong one. Pentaho is clearly the market leading OSBI company on the market and the only professional OS company to offer a comprehensive, end-to-end BI suite. Wake up VAR guy 😉
[…] This time around, Dell wanted to cash in on the booming VoIP market for small businesses. Dell could have inked a deal with Cisco, ShoreTel, 3Com or any other SMB networking specialist. If Michael was ready to make another open source move, the obvious partner was Digium — which is widely considered the de facto leader of the Asterisk movement. (Digium was Number 2 on The VAR Guy’s list of top 10 open source companies to watch in 2008.) […]
Hi
You have taken into account only US market. If you consider Europe Market…Typo CMS should find a place.
Jim
I use VMukti for my voip open source needs and has been nominated for the CCA 2008.
Haven’t used VMukti yet? Well I bet you have a need for it already. VMukti is a Free, innovative, multi-point total communications, collaboration and conferencing engine with built-in support for access to platform features through Personal Customizable Web Interface, Widgets for 3rd party websites, Desktops, and PSTN/ Mobile/ IP Phones. VMukti has been nominated for CCA 2008.
Help VMukti get the support they need from the user community to continue developing such a great project. You can show your support by recognizing this software in the SourceForge.net 2008 Community Choice Awards. This recognition will help ensure that their software gets the attention it needs to continue to provide a great set of features to the software community.
You can vote for the software on SourceForge.net by going here:
http://www.vmukti.com/latest-news/vmukti-calls-on-community-to-win-prestigious-award.html
Winning this award would mean big things for all the users at VMukti.