Does not Compete

Everyone has opinions about the next wave of open source software investment.  Obviously so do I, as I came to Optaros.  Unfortunately, everyone sees the words "services" and "open source" and assumes there is but one sort of service.  It would be like confusing a medical doctor providing a medical service, and a lawyer who specializes in medical law providing a different sort of service.  The Mercury News Silicon Beat reported "Optaros takes on SpikeSource, other open source start-ups".  This isn't so. 

SpikeSource is delivering a LAMP stack with particular support and maintenance offerings.  SourceLabs is delivering a tested and certified stack, focusing on the rigor of the integration testing.  These companies can be compared to RedHat and SuSE in terms of business model, product offering differentiation, and differentiated positioning.  (When you look at SuSE the positioning is all about ease of management as opposed to RedHat positioning around security and being current.)

OpenLogic is delivering a tools architecture for open source development, and it's services  are around supporting and maintaining its products, and training, customization, and consulting on the development space using their products.  Gluecode is delivering a similar open source offering differentiated towards the java developer.

Optaros is a traditional consulting and systems integration company delivering applications level solutions using open source regardless of underlying platform or toolset.  We don't compete with SpikeSource.  Or SourceLabs, Gluecode, OpenLogic, or anyone else delivering open source products.  Indeed, if they all succeed wildly, it will make our jobs easier satisfying our customers. 

Updated 03-14-2005, 13:41 PM:  The Mercury News Silicon Beat has updated their article here.  Thank you.