Author: Mary E. Tyler
Debisys, a prepaid phone
transaction service processor, thought it would be a Windows shop
forever. Debisys runs Windows 2000 servers, a SQL Server database,
and Windows desktops. “There was a perception that we’d always buy
Microsoft software,” says MIS Manager Mike Figeuroa. But that is all
about to change. “We are doing a complete migration to open
source.”
The company that lured Debisys from the dark side is Gluecode Software, a developer of
open source enterprise software. Gluecode’s business process
management engine models, automates, integrates, and streamlines
business processes. A security provisioning module controls
role-based access to the various functions. An application server
underlies its other products. Finally, an enterprise portal brings
all the functions together in a coherent
user interface. Gluecode’s “upper stack” is built on Apache, and the
database functions rely on MySQL for a foundation.
More flexibility and customization
After looking at Microsoft offerings and doing total cost of
ownership and return on investment calculations, Debisys chose
Gluecode’s server applications. “There were a couple of bosses
considering using the upper stack of infrastructure that Gluecode was
offering, but later on we decided to actually use foundation services
as well. In the long term, it actually came out cheaper,” said
Figeuroa. “We got more flexibility and more customization, especially
on the business process management side.”
Flexibility was important to Debisys. Its old software did not support
cross-selling phone services between
carriers — a function Debisys desperately needed. “We wanted to
empower our carriers to manage their downline better,” Figeuroa
explains. “We’re also utilizing Gluecode’s business process
management for better reporting and inventory management.”
The changeover has not been without obstacles to leap. For
Debisys, migration is an ongoing process. It still straddles the
gap between Microsoft technologies and open source.
The company moves one function, tests it, runs it, and then moves the next. It
is not as easy as throwing the Windows boxes out the window as the Linux
machines come in the door.
Their tallest barrier? “Most of the business logic in the current
system was actually stored in a lot of different places. Stored
procedures in this database, source code utilizing Visual Basic,”
explains Figeuroa. “One of the challenges was gathering all the
source codes and moving it over to the business process side.”
Gluecode offers several benefits that its major competitors
IBM, BEA, and Oracle don’t, the company says. “We’re completely open
source. Like IBM and BEA, we take from open source,” says Gluecode
Vice President of Marketing Alice Chou. “But they close source and
charge for all of it. Because we deliver the source code to our
customers, it gives them a lot more deployment options.” It’s also
cheaper.
Gluecode also offers source-level support, so that if customers
want to modify the source, they have all the direction they need. “We
deliver the source and let the customers collaborate with us and
check their code into our CVS. We test to make sure it is compatible
with our future versions,” says Chou. “This reduces application
maintenance costs and the risk of deployment [of a new version]. This
guarantees an enterprise’s modifications will work across upgrade
cycles.”
Oracle owes thanks to SQL
Vice President and Chief Analyst Nathaniel Palmer of the Delphi Group believes that the
industry establishment is moving toward openness.
“Oracle’s whole business exists today because of SQL,” he said. ” ‘We can do more
with open standards,’ they said. J2EE was a huge step in that direction for BEA.
IBM is pushing J2EE, too. The trend [is] toward
building it yourself, based on snappable components that you have
some visibility into.”
BEA, IBM, and Oracle solutions offer a limited
view into the code because it is based on open standards, but it
remains proprietary. According to Palmer, the most important benefit of an open
source solution is not free licenses, but rather ease of maintenance.
With a proprietary solution, systems are locked into one vendor and one
platform. Of open source, Palmer says, “What you’re getting is
visibility into the code and inner workings of the system. The risk
versus buying into a propriety system is minimized, optimizing your
portability.”
Debisys is a small company, running only two servers. Liability
wasn’t an issue, so they were unconcerned that their open source
application did not come from a big company with deep pockets. “Our main
concerns, because we are a small company, was the cost involved,” says
Figeuroa. “That was really the main reason we elected to go open
source. Open source is a good fit for what (we’re) doing. That
actually made a difference in our decision.”
Category:
- Business
