Session Open Source and Enterprise Software: Peaceful Coexistence or All Out War Byron Sebastian, CEO and Founder, Source Labs Robert Sutor, Vice President of Standards, IBM Corporation Dan Woods, Editor and CTO, Evolved Media Network Track: Open Source Business Review Date: Wednesday, August 3rd, 2005 Time: 10:45am - 11:30am Location: E145 A variety of new open source companies have emerged to serve the needs of IT departments who are seeking to incorporate open source software into their infrastructure and applications. Byron Sebastian, CEO and Founder of Source Labs, one of the leading companies offering services to support open source, frequently presents a gloomy outlook for enterprise software, which he claims is under severe threat from the emergence of open source software and from companies providing services that make open source a safe choice. The most aggressive comments made by those in Byron’s camp are statements like: “The Enterprise Software Model is Dead” or “The Era of Extortion is Over.” On the other hand, enterprise software companies like SAP see things differently. All of the trends that are lowering the cost of creating open source software are also lowering the costs of creating commercial software. The very existence of commercial open source support companies makes the case that a total solution, a complete ecosystem of software, supporting services, and consultants is needed to fully support the needs of IT. It is also not quite clear how open source developers will be excited at solving all the problems, such as financial accounting and advanced supply chain optimization. How will open source solutions be integrated into a coherent whole solution such as mySAP Business Suite? This panel will be a lively discussion of these points, moderated by a senior executive from a consulting firm who will keep both sides honest and focus the discussion on how each side of this debate can best serve the needs of IT.

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