With the number of open-source products on the rise, there has been a surge in services offerings -- such as consulting and support -- designed specifically for open-source software like Linux, the Apache Web server and MySQL database.
Big companies looking for help in assembling new systems based on unfamiliar open-source programs are fueling a race among providers -- some new, some holdovers from the dot-com boom and long before -- to become the trusted name in open-source services.
Analysts expect the market to come to a head in 2005. "Open source won't be about the software at all -- it will be about the services," said Julie Giera, an analyst with Forrester Research. "The recognition will dawn on people that this is a services play, not a software play."
Sensing that opportunity, a number of companies specialising in open-source services have sprouted up in the past year. The former CEO of professional services outfit Viant -- which flourished briefly, then crashed during the dot-com bust of the late 1990s -- last month launched a company called Optaros, which will provide IT consulting for open-source software. SpikeSource, a new company specialising in ongoing support and certification of open-source components, last month launched a beta program for its maintenance services. A competitor to SpikeSource, called SourceLabs, formed last year.
"More and more, the emphasis is going from the bits to the services wrapped around those bits," said Kim Polese, an industry veteran who helped develop the Java programming language and who is now CEO of SpikeSource.
Established professional services firms are raising the stakes as well. IBM and Hewlett-Packard, for example, are expanding their services offerings for open-source components.
Industry executives and analysts expect to see a flourishing of services for open-source software, with vendors tackling up-front consulting and installation to ongoing support and maintenance. As providers chase services-related dollars, corporate customers will have more options to experiment or expand their use of open-source software.
"There are opportunities for newer companies to try to latch onto the success of some of the biggest names in open-source projects and gain some brand recognition," said Stephen O'Grady, an analyst at RedMonk.
New faces
Open-source software, especially the Linux operating system and Apache Web server, are commonly used in businesses already. Now, the palette of software available with an open-source license is extending to browsers, infrastructure software, desktop software, development tools and even packaged applications.
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