Open Source for Enterprise Software Development: Helping Global 2000 Companies to Innovate.

Briefing Invitation with Winston Damarillo and the Simula Labs Team

MARINA DEL REY, Calif. -- Open source software is being adopted by an increasing number of Global 2000 companies focused on how to take advantage of its inherent flexibility and innovation within their own application development processes.

Software developed using the open source model is distributed with the code that was used to create it, like a recipe, so that it can be easily adapted by its users. Often the software can be freely distributed and modified, with companies charging for support services instead of selling licenses. The pace of development, typically involving teams of volunteers all over the globe, is rapid and rife with innovation. Open source is empowering enterprises to be more innovative, and is creating a seismic shift throughout the whole software industry.

Simula Labs helps IT organizations rapidly and predictably extract value from open source during the software development process. Simula focuses on enabling artifact-driven, component-based engineering, by harnessing both the disruptive technologies and best practices that drive today's leading open source communities.

Experts from the Simula Labs team, including Winston Damarillo, CEO, Phillip Dodds, CTO, and Natalie Burdick, vice president of product management, are available to discuss a range of topics around the role that open source software is playing in leading businesses and organizations, including:

- Open source and its place in enterprise and SOA software development;

- The future of the software industry - which licensing models will win: commercial, copyleft or non-copyleft open source?

- Understanding the evolution of the stack, from pure open source to 'hybrid' distributions, and the current custom requirements driving 'build your own' efforts;

- Exploring the long tail of open source - how the thousands of projects that provide discrete, embeddable and re-usable components can cumulatively create a greater market than the current blockbusters (RedHat, MySQL, Apache Tomcat);

- How the open source model is underwriting hotbeds of developers that are forming in disruptive geographies to re-shape the software market;

- How businesses can gain competitive advantage by collaborating with successful open source communities;

"Open source development is the future of enterprise software development," Damarillo said. "There is a misconception that open source is all about free software that doesn't have the support of business. That's simply not true. There is a massive market in supporting open source applications, including helping enterprises to adapt it to their needs. The reason to use open source is for competitive advantage: to leverage the innovation and pace of development available from open source communities that no single software vendor can match."

Winston Damarillo has in-depth experience of the open source industry and of the impact of working across different countries. He was the founder of Gluecode Software, an open source application infrastructure company that he grew to profitability before securing series-A funding and which was subsequently sold to IBM. He is also a co-founder of Exist Engineering, Asia's leading provider of software engineering services. Since its inception in 2001, Exist has maintained profitable operations, grown at over 100 percent annually, and successfully delivered strategic development capabilities to enterprises, independent software vendors and Web 2.0 start-ups. Previously, Damarillo was among the highest performing venture capital professionals at Intel Corporation, helping lead the majority of his investments to either a successful IPO or a profitable corporate acquisition.

To discuss this or any other topics on the progression of open source and its impact on the software industry, please contact Bill Barnwell or Hazel Butters at Prompt Communications at [phone], or via [e-mail]/ [e-mail]

About Simula Labs

Simula Labs (http://www.simulalabs.com) is the only company with a proven business model designed to enable IT organizations to rapidly and predictably extract value from open source during the software development process. Simula Labs collaborates with its customers through the same processes and tools that enable open-source development. The company offers a uniquely-differentiated, subscriber-based model that provides access to the Maestro tooling platform, as well as expert technical support, custom consulting and ongoing product maintenance for all of the open source distributions and components delivered through the Community-oriented, Real-time Engineering (CoRE) Network. Simula Labs is based in Marina del Rey, Calif.