In this issue we at siliconindia have broken the enterprise software space to its nuts and bolts to get a deeper insight. There are plenty of applications, middleware and databases sitting in today’s organization. What is missing is a solution that will tie business processes with applications and IT resources thereby enabling enterprises to understand and act in real time.

The future will be built on Service-Oriented Architectures, grid and utility service models—not on vertical stacks of proprietary middleware, applications and databases. Building a SoA isn’t easy. CIOs are experimenting with Web services or beginning pilot deployments of grid services. Once they start to see potential payoffs, SoA will be the de-facto IT architecture.

Delivering software as a service is the buzz in the market. An IDC study indicates that by 2010 the majority of worldwide software revenue would be derived from subscription-based offerings of software as a service. We need to see how CIOs will buy into this new model even as software vendors try to push the concept.

One of the most far-reaching disruptors in enterprise software is the commercialization of open source software. A recent survey of IT departments by a leading IT publication found that 60 percent have a mix of commercial and open source software. Only 38 percent are running exclusively commercial software. Open source software is maturing and is moving up the software stack. It is penetrating into all aspects of enterprise software, from operating systems to middleware and even to applications.

The application providers are certainly testing the potential of the market—they feel open source has enough volume to represent a significant market opportunity. The interest expressed by enterprise software companies indicates the growing strength of open-source systems. Successful ventures will be those, which embrace both and understand which works best in any given situation.

Opportunities to use software to transform business and IT are unlimited. One of the biggest opportunities is using innovative software to unlock the value out of unstructured data within a company. Sometimes that information is locked in large storage systems or sitting in an email or a power point presentation. The challenge is to map the accumulated experience and knowledge of a company’s employees.

One company providing enterprise data management solutions is Solix. A veteran in this part of business, Sai Gundavelli presents his take on Leadership.

While the venture capitalists are choosy on investing in the enterprise space, as you will read in the VC perspective story, they are investing in dot-com companies, yet again. This time, with caution and firm belief that the dot-com’s they are fund have sound business models. Our cover story takes a peek into the new trend.

It’s a pleasure for us when you as a reader share your view about technology and business trends. Do write to us and let us know what you think.

Pradeep Shankar
editor@siliconindia.com