Individual open-source database and other applications are already popular. Now two open-source projects have launched efforts to assemble "stacks" of software applications that offer an open-source equivalent to commercial software from Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, BEA Systems and others.
Last week, a company called Gluecode began selling technical support and maintenance services for a package of infrastructure tools from the Apache Foundation, which oversees and develops some of the most popular open-source software. The package includes portal and database software, and an application server.
Then ObjectWeb, a French non-profit consortium of companies and research bodies launched six years ago, said it will release the eXo Platform. The package includes a corporate Web portal and a content management application, in addition to the connectivity, grid computing and enterprise messaging software the consortium already offers.
Though it's too soon to tell just how much these new stacks will shake up the multibillion-dollar market for back-end software, it's clear there's a growing number of open-source alternatives to commercial software makers' most profitable products.
There's more to come: The Apache Foundation and ObjectWeb are constructing a growing number of Java server software components to rival proprietary applications.
The good news, according to Anne Thomas Manes, an analyst with the Burton Group, is that for almost every major software need, from databases to business applications, there's now an open-source alternative. The bad news? Get ready to do some work yourself.
"You can reconstruct the same thing based on open-source technology, but the challenge is that you have to integrate it yourself. A fair amount of systems integration is necessary to come up with an integrated environment," Manes said.
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All sides agree that commercial server software suites will continue to have the most advanced features, at least for the foreseeable future. But the software programmers and entrepreneurs behind these open-source middleware projects intend to compete head-to-head with established providers.
"The new addition of a portal to the ObjectWeb code base provides the missing pieces to get a full stack that becomes a true alternative to proprietary products," said Christophe Ney, executive director of ObjectWeb. "Members were really interested in having more than just an application server."
Ney added that ObjectWeb is developing products usually associated with big-ticket software, such as integration and business process automation software based on the Business Process Execution Language, or BPEL, specification.
No large commercial entity has yet voiced plans to offer support services for an assemblage of ObjectWeb's server components. However, Red Hat started offering services around its Jonas application server earlier this year.
The stack sell
IBM, BEA Systems and Oracle sell commercial versions of Java server software suites, which include a Java application server, a Web portal, integration software and application-development tools. Microsoft offers a similar set of Windows server software built on its .Net development model. This infrastructure software and related tools, which can cost up to hundreds of thousands of dollars to license, form the technical underpinnings for business applications.
