Open source key to SaaS, says Gartner

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In just two years, 90 per cent of software-as-a-service (SaaS) will be based on open-source in some way, according to research by Gartner.

The analyst firm said that SaaS providers will use open source in either their operating system, application server or database level to cut expenses, making up some 30 per cent of an application as part of the provider's ecosystem.

Robert DeSisto, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner, said: "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."

In addition, user communities will use open-source methods to share applications, the report said. "Community capabilities, such as voting and validation of those useful applications versus ones that are not, will help self-police these emerging communities," explained DeSisto.

DeSisto called on organisations to take an active role in open source and related user communities to ensure success and protect patents. "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," he said.

He added: "It is also important that IT organisations 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."

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