Last Friday, BMC announced the hiring of noted open source industry veteran, William Hurley (a.k.a. "Whurley") as chief architect of Open Source Strategy. A move which is noteworthy not only as news but also as an indicator of the increasing criticality of dedicated stratagem for open source technologies. There is a continued need to address open source not only on a purely technical basis, but as a value generator to be integrated into a company's vision and business model. The hiring of Whurley ranks as a solid start towards that goal.
From the press release:
"Hurley is responsible for creating BMC’s open source agenda and overseeing the company’s participation in various free and open source software communities to advance the adoption and integration of BSM solutions."
BMC has yet to demonstrate a continued commitment to open source and it will be part of Will Hurley's job to develop and execute a strategy for doing so. The challenge for BMC lies in identifying the correct strategy which is most closely aligned with an appropriate participation model, all within the context of their business needs. The participation model should be one which reflects the current level of comfort with open source at BMC as well as the company's long term goals and plans for its ecosystem.
In order for the $1.57 billion software giant to ensure Mr. Hurley's hiring meets expectations, they must begin the process of building a dedicated group around him. One person's vision is only as strong as the means to make it a reality, and in larger, established corporate environments it almost always takes the form of knowledgeable, informed persons who will advocate the acceptance of various programs as well as educate others about their nature and direction. Matt Asay mentions that Will joins a couple others at BMC who are already hard at work on internal open source interests. Going forward, it will be interesting to see how and when a group comes together.
Though it remains sufficiently difficult to monitor the effectiveness of internal corporate strategies from the outside, BMC's activity in the open source domain over the remaining three quarters of this year, should show some signs of increase. However, the prospect of developing an integrated understanding of the value and benefits of open source within a commercial software vendor takes a considerable period of time. It's taken IBM 7 odd years to find a harmonious balance. Sun, too, has been at it for nearly the same time and both are still learning/adapting as I write this. The point is, BMC management & senior leadership will have to afford Will both resources and patience as he tackles what will shape up to be a long-term effort.
The best approach for BMC remains that which focuses on consistently invigorating smaller pockets of growth over a longer time frame. The growth should be driven by agile strategy which can adapt as the open source industry progresses through its growth curve. This steers clear of mandating the type of broadly defined action items which tend to weaken and die under their own weight. Plus, as the small internal pockets of growth flourish organically, they will help form a natural synergy between BMC's proprietary ecosystem and open source universe.
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