Gartner says Open Source will be key enabler for SaaS

************************************************************************

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Gartner Says Use of Open Source Will Be Key Enabler for SaaS Development
Platform Adoption

STAMFORD, Conn., April 14, 2008 - By 2010, 90 percent of software as a
service (SaaS) providers will have some open-source component in their
technology infrastructure stacks (that is, operating system, application
server and database) to reduce software acquisition expenses, according
to Gartner, Inc. User communities are expanding around
application-platform-as-a-service providers and will leverage
open-source practices for sharing software applications.

"As the community of SaaS users increases, along with the emergence of
associated application-platform-as-a-service providers' open-source-type
practices, application exchange will continue to grow," said Robert
DeSisto, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. "Community
capabilities, such as voting and validation of those useful applications
vs. ones that are not, will help self-police these emerging communities.
The more SaaS vendors use open source in the technology stack, the lower
their software acquisition cost becomes. Users, however, should not
expect cost savings to be passed on to them in the form of lower prices.
Vendors may choose to improve profitability or increase R&D efforts with
their savings."

>From the user perspective, open-source-like applications will constitute
at least 30 percent of an application as a service provider's ecosystem
of available applications built on the provider's native platform. This
is the infancy of application-as-a-service SaaS platforms and their
corresponding ecosystems. The combination of platforms and ecosystems
will foster communities that will leverage open-source practices. 

"Consider leveraging communities where the underlying SaaS provider
enables the community through an application platform as a service," Mr.
DeSisto said. "The success of a provider's platform will be highly
dependent on the success of the community; therefore, the provider of
the platform is likely to take actions to support ecosystem success. It
is also important that IT organizations take an active role in governing
the use of any open-source SaaS offering, specifically to ensure that
the company using the offering is properly indemnified from any
downstream patent infringement actions from the open-source elements
that the SaaS providers are using."

Additional information is available in the Gartner report "Open Source
in SaaS, 2008." The report is available on Gartner's Web site at
http://www.gartner.com/DisplayDocument?ref=g_search&i...
plesearch.


About Gartner

Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT) is the world's leading information technology
research and advisory company. Gartner delivers the technology-related
insight necessary for its clients to make the right decisions, every
day. From CIOs and senior IT leaders in corporations and government
agencies, to business leaders in high-tech and telecom enterprises and
professional services firms, to technology investors, Gartner is the
indispensable partner to 60,000 clients in 10,000 distinct
organizations. Through the resources of Gartner Research, Gartner
Consulting and Gartner Events, Gartner works with every client to
research, analyze and interpret the business of IT within the context of
their individual role. Founded in 1979, Gartner is headquartered in
Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.A., and has 3,900 associates, including 1,200
research analysts and consultants in 75 countries. For more information,
visit www.gartner.com <http://www.gartner.com/> .

# # #