Open Source BI: a potential alternative for commercial BI

Writing by Jorgen on Tuesday, 2 of September , 2008 at 10:04 am

2008 has been quite a year for Business Intelligence. We have seen large platform vendors buying well known BI companies. The result is that the BI market will be dominated by three maybe four players. This market, some predict, will grow with another 10% this coming year. Some analysts have stated that small independent BI software vendors will profit most from this all. They will grow faster and will be more innovative than their large competitors. It can be expected that this will give way to a renewed interest in Open Source Business Intelligence (OSBI). OSBI vendors are able to present themselves as an alternative. One of their strong arguments is that they can so help prevent a vendor lock in. Another aspect is status. Early adaptors can make good cheer with their choice for OSBI. They consider themselves winners as they have chosen to step outside the trampled down roads. Finally, this also fits in the increased interest for open source software. But are the OSBI vendors ready for the fight? Can they compete with the four mega vendors? To do so they need to have a complete BI solution (breadth) or a terrific niche solution (depth). One of the competing differentiators is the claim that OSBI is cheaper. By making the code public the vendor can lower their cost for research and development. At the same time it creates a form of shared ownership. Another advantage is that OSBI vendors do not charge you for the software (licenses). Their profit model is based on delivery of services and support. The bottom line is that the total cost of ownership (TCO) for OSBI is often lower. But the game is not won on costs alone. The fit between the user requirements and the BI solution will be just as much a deciding factor. The general impression in the market is that the functionality of OSBI runs behind. They offer some nice (additional) solutions for reporting and analysis but that’s it. They are no real alternative for their commercial counterparts. But is this true? Let’s take a short look at what the OSBI vendors came up with last year. Pentaho brought BI to the iPhone, added a meta data layer to their BI suite v1.6 and made their product compatible with Sun Solaris 10 (two OS products, 1 solution, low TCO),  Also Pentaho and Ingres have agreed on a strategic partnership for OSBI. This means shared sales and marketing activities but also an integration of their products (Pentaho is certified for the Ingres Dbase).  Pentaho also agreed on a partnership with Infobright for data integration and ETL for all MySQL customers. They have also been actively expanding in Europe. Jaspersoft came with v3.0 which includes interactive web 2.0 interfaces, drag and drop technology, a new metadata layer and improved security. They have also been cooperating with Microsoft to optimize their BI suite for windows and office. MsExcel can now fully be used as a front end tool for their JasperAnalysis data analysis server. Ingres – as mentioned before – closely work with Pentaho but also with salesforce.com offering a CRM SAAS product (Icebreaker). It is safe to conclude that OSBI vendors are strengthening their position with partnerships within the OS community and by adding new functionality or technology to their BI proposition. They are also rapidly closing the gap with the commercial BI vendors (who are often halting as they face product integration). If they can keep this pace they will have their BI products at the same level as the commercial vendors within three or four years. OSBI has the potential to become a serious alternative for the commercial solutions. (This article has been written together with Leo Cardinaals. Leo also works for Capgemini BI and is an active member of the open source community.).

Category: BI Tools, BI vendor consolidation, Business Intelligence software, Business Intelligence tools

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