IT Troubleshooter | Harper Mann » April 2007

April 17, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Gartner Jumps on the Bandwagon...

TAGS: Open Source

If one uses the "Shift Key" to spell out "Big 4"- he gets "BIG $."

Gartner recently released a report entitled "'Big 4' Management Software Vendors Face Competitive Threats" that discusses the growing dissatisfaction with the "Big 4" proprietary software vendors.

In this report, Gartner states that the "Big 4" (HP OpenView, IBM Tivoli, CA Unicenter, BMC Patrol) are being threatened by open source systems management vendors mainly because the "Big 4" do not provide enough additional value to justify the magnitude more cost relative to open source alternatives. In January, former HP Executive Nora Denzel foreshadowed just this:

"...Inflexible, expensive proprietary solutions from the 'Big 4' vendors simply do not provide enough additional value, in comparison to open source alternatives, to justify the magnitude more cost... I predict a 'draining the cost pool' for customers and a paradigm shift in the way they view management solutions. Big fish vendors will be pushed down to the deep end where they can add value while the adoption of best of breed open source solutions will lower the customer cost water line in the shallow end..."

In my opinion, the collection and correlation (or monitoring) of data has essentially become commoditized by open source and this is a good thing for customers.

This is the first time I've seen a Tier 1 analyst firm say (and quantify) that customer loyalty to the "Big 4" is fragile and that the "...OSM [open source management] industry appears to be a more immediate threat to the major IT management software vendors that have no intention (for now) of offering OSM products..."

More than half (55%, 106 responses) of recent survey respondents said they would consider open source alternatives to those offered by the "Big 4" (up from 29% in 2004 survey).

The report notes that while support was still one of the major impediments to OSM adoption, GroundWork Open Source, Zenoss, and Hyperic offer packages of management functionality along with maintenance agreements. The report also discusses the dissatisfaction of "Big 4" customers with the interoperability (or lack thereof) of their proprietary tools, functionality that is inherent to GroundWork's open source solution.

One more reason that the "Big 4" should keep an eye open to open source.

Posted by Harper Mann on April 17, 2007 11:34 AM

April 11, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Open Source, Stat!

TAGS: Open Source

There is a syndrome that has lately been plaguing the "Big 4" proprietary vendors.

I will call it the "Acquisition/Confusion Syndrome." It can be severely damaging, and anyone exposed to it is susceptible to infection.

The point of exposure occurs when a "Big 4" vendor acquires a smaller, focused start-up in the hopes of expanding their offerings to their customers.

It is shortly after this that the "Big 4" carrier becomes contagious and contaminates their customers, who begin showing symptoms almost immediately.

It starts with a feeling of claustrophobia, of being locked-in to a vendor, and the customer breaks into cold sweat as he is forced to dig deep into his pockets and cough up large sums of money for new, complex product offerings. When IBM acquired Micromuse, Tivoli announced the End Of Life (EOL) of their existing monitoring solution and began transitioning customers into their NetCool offering for an added cost. Customers were required to re-purchase the new NetCool/Micromuse technology rather than acquire it through an upgrade- essentially buying a new product altogether. Word on the street is that after HP acquired Mercury, they strongly "encouraged" their channel partners and end users to deploy the Sitescope product.

Then come the neurological symptoms- dissatisfaction, anger, confusion, and disorientation. IBM's and HP's customer base no doubt felt all of these as they were forced to spend more and learn a complicated, brand new product.

Even though the customers exhibit the brunt of the symptoms, the "Big 4" are not left unscathed, although the disease does have a longer incubation period on the vendor end. As their customers become sicker and begin to die out over time, these large, strong, monolithic vendors weaken and, eventually, risk complete economic paralysis.

But there is treatment.

Daily use of open source software, with its lower costs and higher flexibility, could ease the symptoms of ailing midsized businesses and, as a result, relieve some of the pressure from the "Big 4."

Open source could be the simple, effective, speedy cure for this growing epidemic.

Posted by Harper Mann on April 11, 2007 10:36 AM