Why 2017 Will Belong to Open Source

The most important transformations in the enterprise IT space - cloud, SDI, digitisation and DevOps - will be driven by open source.

A few years ago, open source was the less-glamourous and low-cost alternative in the enterprise world, and no one would have taken the trouble to predict what its future could look like. Fast-forward to 2016, many of us will be amazed by how open source has become the de facto standard for nearly everything inside an enterprise. Open source today is the primary engine for innovation and business transformation. Cost is probably the last reason for an organisation to go in for open source.

An exclusive market study conducted by North Bridge and Black Duck brought some fascinating statistics a few months ago. In the study titled "Future of Open Source", about 90% of surveyed organisations said that open source improves efficiency, interoperability and innovation. What is even more significant is the finding that the adoption of open source for production environments outpaced the proprietary software for the first time - more than 55% leverage OSS for production infrastructure.

Indian enterprises are equally enthusiastic and serious about adopting open source across the board. It is gradually becoming the most preferred platform for their business-critical applications, cloud infrastructures, software-defined architectures and is at the heart of digital transformation. In 2017, it is believed that open source will attain a further elevated stature within the enterprise; here are the reasons...