Gartner Predicts that Open-Source Business Intelligence Tools Production Deployments Will Grow Five-Fold through 2012

Once only found in cash-strapped organisations, open-source business intelligence (BI) tools are becoming a mainstream deployment option for all kinds of BI usage, according to Gartner, Inc.

If Gartner say so it must be true. I mean, Gratner analysis are thinked for the pragmatists' market sector so just the fact that it talks about open source business intellignece (OSBI) it's a clear signal of the fact that OSBI is at the beginning of the chasm crossing process.


Of course all the estabilished BI big vendors have noticied this grow trend a while ago (at least from the beginning of 2009) and have taken their counter moves lowering the prices of their entry point products. The most impressive move in this diraction has been taken this year by MicroStrategy which have started to offer a free version of its Reporting Suite for a limited number of users/CPU. The strategy here is clear: "remove the argument of using open source BI bacause it is free software". Assuming that this strategy will reach its goal (I have some doubts about this) how can OSBI climb the adoption curve without falling in the chasm in a so competitive market? How can OSBI realistically be five-fold more deployed than it is today without one of its key differentiator that have surely driven its grow in the past? The five most popular OSBI suite named in the Gartner Report must find their way to answer to this question in order to not denay the five-fold grow forecast.

A sizable number of open-source BI projects have developed over the years, amny of which have fizzled out, but Gartner tracks five organizations more closely that have made a name for themselves: Actuate BIRT, JasperSoft, Jedox, Pentaho and SpagoBI

Actually I'm pretty much sure that most of them alredy have in mind their own answer. It emerge clearly from their market strategy. Of course the answers are different and so, by consequence, also the market strategies and in some cases even the business models are different.

I will try to describe my own humble answer in the next post :)

P.s. Gartner full report can be downloaded here

My video interview on the state of location intelligence functionalities of SpagoBI is now online on youtube's ItalyMadeOpenSource Channel. The interview focuses on the power of location intelligence functionalities provided by the platform (GeoEngine mainly) and introduces some of the new development plans in this area (GeoReportEngine)



It is also available in italian here. The video and the video transcript can be downloaded from the SpagoWorld web site at this url.

Linux is the hype du jour ...

...who said it in 1999? Tha answer is in the video down here.



P.s. I personally found all RH's ads a little bit gloomy

The power of visualization

SpagoBI @ LinusTag

Ow2 SpagoBI Linuxtag09

View more presentations from OW2.

Born free... still free


This recent article of the Economist analyse the success of the opensource software in this downturn economic period. Not a so original topic for the ones that work in the opensource field but when the analysis come from the Economist could be definitely worthwhile to invest a couple of minute to read it. Two intersting points emerge from the article in my opinion:

• the interst in opensource software is moving up the stack, from middleware to end-user applications (expecially groupware and BI applications as reported in a forrester survay - see previous post)
  
  
• Open-source firms themselves have also become increasingly pragmatic and less distinctive. A popular approach is to sell proprietary extensions to an open-source core (open-core business model). The support model have failed. It has been unable to generate in the past years the returns expected by venture capitalists, who invested more than $3 billion in 163 open-source firms between 1997 and 2008
  

Here I just want to add my two cents on this analysis...
About point one nothing to say. I just hope that the trend will be confirmed in the next couple of year. About point two I agree that the support model alone is not susteinable in the long term but in my opinion aside teh open-core model (i.e. the core is open and free for all the rest you have to pay) exists also another business model that have proven to be solid and susteinable in these years: the project centric model. This business model is based on selling projects to customers not software licences. So opensource is important because cutting of licences' cost allow to incrase the revenue in project selling. This is the business model behinde opensource adoption in most of the greatest solution provider and consultancy firms around the world like IBM or SUN for example. SpagoWorld's projects, backed by Engineering Group (one of the greatest system integrator and solution provider in Italy), are driven by this business model too. Project centered business model, differently from open-core business model, ensures that projects are not only born free but also will remain free.

Project Gemini: MS is going to rule BI market?

Back to basics: the new MS excel-centric strategy

No one is perfect, neither MS

Opensource is mooving up the stack





You can find the full Forrester Report here.