From server operating systems to the data technologies powering smart business decisions, open source software has become both ubiquitous and indispensable within the modern enterprise IT stack. And, according to a recent report from OpenLogic by Perforce, these companies are increasingly choosing open source software as a means of out-innovating their competitors.
But using open source software comes with a unique set of challenges when used in enterprise applications—including the need for dependable support and the ongoing shortage of skills required to support that software throughout its lifecycle.
SourceForge recently interviewed Javier Perez, Chief Evangelist for Open Source and Security at Perforce Software, to talk about these challenges in open source software, the major trends shaping the open source ecosystem, and how organizations can find the support they need to find success with open source software.
Hi Javier, thanks for chatting with me today. What can you tell our readers about OpenLogic by Perforce? What makes your company stand out?
OpenLogic by Perforce has a unique offering. We offer enterprise technical support for over 450 open source projects, many of which are available via SourceForge. We support the most popular open source software that organizations around the world use in their software stacks. From open source Linux distributions, middleware, and data technologies to Kubernetes and cloud-native open source, our customers receive technical support for the open source software they use, and receive it directly from a team of experienced enterprise architects.
Chief Evangelist for Open Source and Security at Perforce Software
For the modern enterprise, it’s hard to have experts in all of the technologies being used within their IT infrastructure, OpenLogic offers that expertise without the need to pay for commercial open source licenses and subscriptions.
Is there a sense that commercial support for open source software is more necessary today than in previous years? Why?
Today open source software is supported in large part by companies, many of them have built businesses based on open source software. What it’s known as the open core model refers to a business model where companies offer a core version of free open source software plus additional functionality sold as add-on proprietary software.
This open core mode can include commercial technical support, so many organizations are used to paying for open core features in order to get support. Another successful model is hosting open source software in the cloud, offered as-a-service. They take care of hosting and provide technical support with a subscription, so in this model again customers pay for SaaS and support. It all comes down to technical skills, and whether you have the skills in house or prefer to go with commercial open source.
OpenLogic offers a third option: companies can continue to use free open source software and use OpenLogic for expert enterprise support. No need to lock-in with a vendor offering open core or open source as-a-service.
One of the broader trends we’re seeing in the open source space involves improving open source security. Why is that important? Why now?
I like to talk about open source security in two major topics.
The first is keeping up with the latest updates and patches. Popular open source evolves really fast, adding functionality, bug fixes, and vulnerability patches. The problem for organizations is not if a vulnerability exists in their software, the problem is whether they can apply the patch that fixes that vulnerability fast enough. Of course, sometimes there’s hesitation to update software, especially if it’s mission critical production software, so we work with our customer to support them during their testing and address any questions they might have with open source software.
The second topic is the identification and disclosure of vulnerabilities in open source software. This goes beyond the popular projects and covers the thousands of libraries for the different programming languages out there. There are several ongoing initiatives to educate developers in application security as well as disclosure and creation of software bills of materials.
Every time there is a major zero-day vulnerability in open source software the open source community comes through with almost immediate fixes, the recent vulnerability in the popular Java Log4j library created urgency to address these types of issues. Also, recent software supply chain exploits put security in the news. At the minimum, we see more awareness in organizations to try to keep up with installing the latest software releases and patches.
OpenLogic and the Open Source Initiative recently conducted a survey on the state of open source software. What were your key takeaways from that survey?
We gathered a lot of great data for our 2022 State of Open Source Report. I had many takeaways, but for me the highlight was the fact that 77% of the global respondents across all company sizes and industries indicated that they increased the use of open source software in the last year.
This confirms that organizations are increasing their use of open source software, and as we all know, proprietary software is based on open source software—so everyone is increasing the use of open source software.
Another great statistic for me is that 79% of respondents report sponsoring open source projects or organizations. Organizations see the value of open source and want to contribute and be part of it. This benefits organizations in many ways but specially gaining experience and addressing skills shortage. The survey highlighted that open source skills experience and proficiency is the number one support challenge with open source software.
What emerging areas of opportunity do you see for open source software?
Three areas are having the fastest growth and I believe there are plenty of more opportunities to innovate and to keep creating new technologies in all areas of software. First, the cloud-native and Kubernetes ecosystem is a hot market. For many, the only blocker is the lack of skills to deploy and support those environments.
DevOps tooling is getting more adoption and there are more and improved tools, many of them for cloud-native environments as well.
And the third area is AI, machine learning, and deep learning related open source software. All the building blocks of innovation in these areas today are based on open source software.
There’s a big discussion in the IT world right now around skill shortages and the effects these skill shortages might have on businesses. How is this skill shortage impacting organizations working with open source software?
Our 2022 State of Open Source Report showed that organizations are more likely to adopt open source technologies if they have personnel with those skills, so a skills shortage slows down progress if, for example, they don’t have anyone familiar with specific data technologies or container orchestration.
At the same time, when we asked about the support challenges for each one of the technology areas the results show that the lack of experience and proficiency is the number one support challenge, so that again tells us that organizations are slowing down modernization and innovation due to skill shortages and they need assistance from companies like OpenLogic to support their open source stacks.
It is a good time to be a developer or an operations engineer, there are great opportunities to keep learning new open source technologies and be compensated for those skills that are in high demand.
Any closing thoughts?
I invite everyone to keep participating in open source communities and foundations, contributions make everything better. Also, be sure to follow our constant blog posts, webinars, and events—we are always publishing great content on open source technologies!
About OpenLogic by Perforce
OpenLogic by Perforce provides end-to-end enterprise support and services for organizations using open source software in their infrastructure.
With support for over 450 open source packages, guaranteed SLAs, and direct access to highly-experienced Enterprise Architects, OpenLogic customers receive a consolidated and holistic open source support solution through our 24/7 ticket-based support, professional services, and training.
Learn more about how OpenLogic can help support and improve your integrated open source by visiting www.openlogic.com.
