Many of the top remote monitoring and management (RMM) tool providers rely on traditional closed source development models. But GroundWork Open Source is trying to disrupt the RMM market with a new online hub for open source monitoring developers and IT administrators.

Joe Panettieri, Former Editorial Director

September 15, 2009

2 Min Read
GroundWork Launches Hub for Open Source Monitoring Developers

groundwork-open-source-monitoring-forge

groundwork-open-source-monitoring-forge

Many of the top remote monitoring and management (RMM) tool providers rely on traditional closed source development models. But GroundWork Open Source is trying to disrupt the RMM market with a new online hub for open source monitoring developers and IT administrators.

Before I share details about GroundWork’s move, I want to point out that there are pros and cons to both open source and closed source. I don’t believe one size fits all. But I do believe aggressive collaboration — beyond traditional in-house development teams — is the norm going forward.

Now, the actual news: GroundWork has launched MonitoringForge, which the company calls “the epicenter of all open source projects that relate to IT monitoring.”

GroundWork adds:

“MonitoringForge is designed to appeal to IT administrators who want to compare and understand the differences between various open source monitoring tools and plugins available today, facilitating the selection of open source monitoring software over proprietary offerings. Additionally, MonitoringForge provides a unified, professional project and plugin listing for all open source solutions involving monitoring. This web platform is designed to give the project developer control of how their material is presented and managed.”

I understand why GroundWork is messaging mainly to IT administrators: That’s a massive audience. But I think the company should have expanded its messaging to include VARs and MSPs, many of whom are still trying to decide how to monitor and manage customer systems.

I’m also hopeful that we’ll see MonitoringForge and other sites become launching pads for open source plugins that work with closed source RMM and PSA (professional services automation) software. Remember: Some of the most successful software stacks in the world — Oracle on Linux, MySQL on Windows Server — blend open source and closed source. I expect the same trend to play out in the managed services space.

Follow MSPmentor via RSS; Facebook; Identi.ca; and Twitter. And sign up for our Enewsletter; Webcasts and Resource Center.

Read more about:

MSPs

About the Author(s)

Joe Panettieri

Former Editorial Director, Nine Lives Media, a division of Penton Media

Free Newsletters for the Channel
Register for Your Free Newsletter Now

You May Also Like