Open Source Consortia: Open Solutions Alliance looks to its third year
The Open Solution Alliance – an advocacy group that debuted about two years ago – recently appointed a new President and a new Leadership team.
Anthony Gold, vice president and general manager of open source business at Unisys, recently joined Bluenog’s board of directors, brought Bluenog’s co-founder Scott Barnett with him as OSA’s marketing chair.
I asked Anthony more about the Common Customer View project, apparently one of the OSA’s most significant achievement.
The Common Customer View is our greatest achievement so far. It is an example of what can be built when the members work together and commit the time and resources necessary. And the benefits are starting to show. From a business perspective, the CCV gives the OSA members a tool for adding value above and beyond their individual solutions so that customers have a seamless experience using a variety of open solutions in any given environment. The CCV is a business and community collaboration, and we’re happy with its progress.
What are your plans for Europe?
The OSA established its Europe chapter in January of this year. A lot of those efforts have been spearheaded by Talend and Openbravo, and we’re looking forward to more activity from them in 2009. Europe is a hotbed for open source adoption and the OSA can add immediate value by helping open solutions work together in enterprises across the region. I’m bullish about OSA Europe and what it has within its ability in the year ahead.
Europe is different, Larry Augustin is right saying it over and over. Let’s see how will OSA cope with this issue, keep us updated.
How will you be funding OSA?
The OSA is funded by member dues, plain and simple. Our member dues are modest compared to larger consortia so that we remain inclusive but of course the challenges are those that come with limited resources. I’m encouraged that after a year and half, we’re a 26- member organization, which is almost triple the size of OSA when it was founded in February 2007. The more members we have, the more collaboration takes place. Everyone gets return on their investment.
Thank you Anthony, I hope to hear back from you in six months from now.
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