By Alan Radding

"It," in this case, is the open source software movement, often synonymous with Linux but encompassing far more than just Linux. Open source refers to not only operating systems like Linux but also open source application and infrastructure software, databases, and middleware. It also refers to the open source community and collaborative processes for development and governance. The open source movement has the potential to radically alter the way software is created, maintained, marketed, deployed, and supported. In the process, it will generate a host of new applications deployment, support, and integration opportunities for IT consulting companies.

Many consultants are scooping up these opportunities as fast as they can. "We are three years ahead of where we expected to be at this time," reports Robert Whetsel, CEO and founder of Ravensong Open Technologies, Inc., Frederick, MD, a consulting firm focusing primarily, but not exclusively, on open source technology. Whetsel began focusing on open source technology in 1997, not long after Linux was introduced. Since then, Ravensong has attracted a steadily growing list of clients that includes government agencies, biotech firms, the military, and more. Adopting the open source community model for its own consulting practice, Ravensong is poised to introduce an open business collaborative framework to help its own staff and participating consultants grow even faster.

Still, the large, conventional IT consulting firms were slow to recognize Linux and open source as something other than an interesting variation of Unix for the PC. Others dismissed it as some utopian approach to software development with a go-to-market strategy on the extreme periphery of mainstream business. They certainly didn’t understand the community-oriented open source process.

"A lot of big consulting firms never understood open source. They thought that it would never last. They said the same things that Ford and General Motors said of Japanese cars in the 1970s," says Bernard Golden, author of Succeeding with Open Source (Addison Wesley, 2004) and CEO of Navica, a San Carlos, CA, open source consulting firm. What they missed is the power shift represented by open source, a shift from technology vendors to the users of technology. "Open source changed the ground rules," he points out.

It changed everything from how applications are developed to how they are acquired, deployed, and supported. "The open source community and its community support model are unique to open source. It is a return to Main Street America when groups pitched in to help each other," says Charles King, principal analyst, Pund-IT, a research firm based in Hayward, CA. Back then, competitors would cooperate to build the community, knowing that they would profit in the long run. It’s the same philosophy with open source.

Many conventional consulting firms, however, failed to grasp the implications of open source due to cultural, generational, or economic misunderstandings. They saw open source as anti-capitalistic because of free software licenses. They saw the collaborative community with its requirement to share changes to code as communistic. They believed that they had to protect their intellectual property no matter what — even though IBM has proven that a company can give away millions of dollars worth of intellectual property and come out way ahead in terms of the bottom line, notes King.

"We’re heavily involved in the open source community, in JBoss, in Java. Our engineering organization contributes to Linux. Our CEO is pro–open source; he gets it. He wants us to be both a giver and a taker," says Ravi Kalakota, vice president/strategy and solutions at Unisys, Bluebell, PA. As it turns out, giving away intellectual property is great for professional services. "The software is free, but everything around it is services. It takes a lot of work, which gives our services a big boost," he adds. Why didn’t every consulting firm see this opportunity early on?

In many ways, how a professional services firm adjusts to the open source movement comes down to a generational thing. "Just look at the changing faces of the people working in this business. Those 45 years old and up have a traditional view of IT," says Andy Mulholland, Capgemini Global CTO, who happens to be over 50. In that view, IT controls everything. "Those 35 and younger don’t agree that you give IT complete control," he says. Their view of IT control, he feels, closely parallels open source, which runs counter to the traditional monolithic proprietary application mindset. Capgemini is promoting its leadership strategy for open source through its Web sites, www.seriouslyopen.org and www.opengroup.org.

For others, it is the clients that dictate the firm’s interest in open source technology. "Open source has not changed things for me. My clients — process and discrete manufacturers — are more conservative when it comes to technology adoption," says Gregory Reh, managing director of BearingPoint’s Integration Services group. It’s not that the firm is ignoring open source. "We use a number of toolsets and frameworks and have mapped a variety of open source technologies. It provides us with alternatives, with more options," he says, "but it has not changed the nature of our engagements." Neither does the firm actively participate in open source communities. "We don’t contribute code," says Reh.

Already, open source software dominates key application areas, particularly e-commerce. Apache, the open source Web server, commands almost 70 percent of the market for active Web servers, according to Netcraft, an Internet research firm based in Bath, England. Even while warning of overinflated expectations and cautioning enterprises about scaling Linux systems in its September 2005 "Hype Cycle" update, Gartner reports that "Linux has matured as an established operating system environment." Meanwhile, organizations are bringing open source business applications for CRM, SFA, and ERP to the enterprise market in addition to the back-end e-commerce, infrastructure, and middleware systems where open source has long been established.

Among large IT consulting firms, IBM Global Services and Capgemeni have taken on early leadership roles in the open source industry. While almost every business of any size has deployed open source systems, even if the C-level managers don’t realize it, many are now coming out of the open source closet by publicizing their involvement. UPS is migrating its Web site from proprietary Unix systems to Linux. Continental Airlines has adopted the open source JBoss application server and the MySQL open source relational database for its ticket reissue and traveler updates applications. IBM features on its Web site over a dozen open source testimonials from leaders in healthcare, investments, travel, telecommunications, and more.

Yet almost a decade after the introduction of Linux, some IT consulting firms still don’t get it or, at best, are only grudgingly recognizing the value of open source technology. "Linux’s rapid growth seems to indicate the potential to challenge the dominance of Windows. Some analysts speculate that in the next three years, one out of every four corporate platforms will have boarded the Linux train," say K. Thayalan and Keith Haviland in an "Accenture Point of View" piece on the Accenture Web site. Still, the consultants can’t resist trying to sow what some might deem to be fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD): "It is unclear whether the commercial world (with its emphasis on explicit compensation) and the open source software world (with its emphasis on ego gratification) can work comfortably together."

Ego gratification? IBM has sunk over $1 billion into open source technologies, employs 6,000 people in Global Services’ open source practice alone, and has contributed massive amounts of code to the open source community — where it can be accessed for free. Does anyone seriously think that IBM is doing this for ego gratification? Has Accenture planted its tongue in its cheek? IBM expects this investment to pay off big. Of course, Accenture has made a big commitment to Microsoft, which is diametrically opposed to open source.

At IBM Global Services, which has taken open source professional services further than any other conventional services firm has, open source and open systems have become synonymous. "Clients want open solutions. They want to innovate quickly," says Sam Docknevich, IBM Global Services’ emerging technologies practice leader for the open source practice. To deliver what clients want, IBM has fully embraced both standards-based open systems and open source.

Where other consulting firms are still guiding their clients through the most preliminary stages of open source education by explaining what it is, Global Services is elevating the discussion to the next level. "Our conversations with clients now are focusing on business solutions. We’ve dropped the open source evangelical fervor and replaced it with business fervor," Docknevich continues. These discussions revolve around security, management, and business applications. Similarly, the geek mentality that dominated open source in its early years is giving way, at least at IBM, to a more mainstream business attitude. "It is not possible anymore in IT to be a consultant without understanding how Linux has transformed business," says Docknevich.

Consulting companies that have been slow to embrace open source technology can still adjust their attitudes and expand their skills. While nobody believes that open source will replace proprietary technology completely, neither should anyone expect that open source will go away. Consulting firms should welcome open source. Every free open source download represents a potential professional services opportunity. Regardless of whether software is open source or proprietary, professional services firms win either way.

Consulting Magazine © March 2005 Kennedy Information, Inc.