‘Do more with less’ was a very popular statement when the recession cast its shadow on economies worldwide. It was suggested then that adoption of open source would be a wise strategy, involving little or no cost, while achieving lucrative results. With news about the economy bouncing back abuzz in the industry, Biztech2.com brings you the latest on open source as an adoptable technology.

India Overview

An interesting report titled, 'Economic Impact of Free and Open Source Software – A Study in India', was released recently by a team at IIM Bangalore under the guidance of Professor Rahul De. The revelations of the exploratory study have been compiled in the form of twenty case studies of Indian organisations drawn from government departments, commercial firms and educational institutions.

Prof De of IIM-B says, "We conducted the survey among users across various verticals and concentrated on the demand size. Vendors were not taken into consideration at all. Our study revolved around choosing open source as an option, the economics of it and what were the problems and benefits."

What came to the fore from this study was that cost and scope for experimentation are two major drivers for the adoption of open source in India, with dependability following close behind. The cost factor was evident, with varying degrees of importance, in 18 of the 20 organisations studied and FOSS-enabled cost savings from complementary products such as anti-virus software required on Windows desktops contributed as well. Open source software is freely accessible and this is a major attraction, also resulting in curbing of piracy.

Important Findings

• At a very conservative estimate, the cost savings for use of FOSS on servers, as an operating system or as an application, is likely to be Rs 1,380 million ($28.75 million) in 2010.

• Anti-virus software sales in 2010 are likely to touch Rs 20,000 million ($714 million). This is a conservative estimate based on ceteris paribus assumptions (that all else will remain the same). This entire amount is a cost that can be avoided if FOSS products are adopted.

• The ability to innovate with FOSS has very strong intangible benefits. These benefits have to do with being able to try out new software, learn new skills, create new products, and be able to distribute code freely.

Case Examples from the Nation

The study conducted by IIM-B emphasises that large commercial organisations and PSUs are gung-ho about the technology and aggressive adopters of the same. For SMEs, cost is a major driver with ability to scale being an important criterion too. They also look at innovation, flexibility to move and shorter learning curves.

Few examples of benefits of open source adoption:

• The IT @ School project of Kerala replaced Windows software with FOSS on 50,000 desktops in schools across the state. Tangible benefits amounted to Rs 490 million ($48.2 million).

• Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), with an IT infrastructure of 3,500 servers and 30,000 desktops, saved about Rs 420 million ($ 8.75 million) by adopting FOSS.

• The New India Assurance company, a general insurance firm, having 1,100 offices, and an IT infrastructure of 1,500 servers and 7,000 desktops saved about Rs 800 million ($16.67 million) in tangible and intangible costs.

• IIC (affiliated with Delhi University) is an institution of higher education that has adopted FOSS. The tangible and intangible benefits for an infrastructure of 100 desktops and five servers added up to Rs 1.75 million ($ 36,000).

S Ramakrishnan, director general, C-DAC, says, "Open Source Software is maturing rapidly and different stakeholders in India are looking at it as a serious option for adoption. Government enterprises, the developers’ community, academia and users in verticals have in their recent years made specific moves for adoption. There are specific large-scale programs, which are being undertaken by the Ministry of Communications and IT, Government of India, in the Open Source Software as well as Open Standards space, especially in context of the National e-Governance Programme (NeGP)."

Crystal Ball Predictions for Open Source

Professor De says, "Overall, the open source market is going to grow and its future looks bright. An increasing number of service providers are going to come into the picture. Alternatively, the government has to take effective measures to incorporate open source into its departments as well as spread awareness about it as a viable option."

As a software delivery model, Gartner views open source as one of the topmost drivers of software adoption. The places where it is the strongest and will continue to dominate is at the operating system and infrastructure level, this will include Linux and things around that. It will then move into areas such as MySql databases. The research firm expects open source to have continued traction in these spaces.

Val Sribar, group VP-Application Research, Gartner, says, "It will take longer at the business application level. Our take on open source is that it continues to be a major driver of change, but for the infrastructure pieces, it will increasingly dominate how things work. It will also often end up inside other solutions. Open source is also important from a skills standpoint. It is going to continue to have a major impact because large parts of the world have very skilled people that are employed at a very low cost."