[ad_1]
IBM signs the biggest check in its history but also that of the software industry. At the trouble, the century-old computer pioneer announced Sunday night that he intended to revive by swallowing the US computer editor Red Hat for $ 34 billion. A sign of the times, this record mega-acquisition underscores the growing value of open source technologies, of which Red Hat is the most important success story.
Linux is definitely not anymore cancer To use the expression used in 2001 by Steve Ballmer, the former boss of Microsoft. At the time, the number one software considered with contempt that free computer ownership and whose developers guarantee access to the source code to allow a change by the community.
Now, IBM and its boss Virginia Rometty see free software as an antidote to cure the revenue problems of "Big Blue". In six years, IBM has released only three quarters of revenue growth.
Open source, vector of growth in IT
On the contrary, open source companies are doing very well. By 2021, revenues generated by this industry are expected to be $ 68.8 billion, driven by an average annual growth of 20%, according to market research firm IDC.
Champion of the sector, Red Hat sells software built on open source technologies but to which it adds a technical support service. On his fiscal year 2018 ended last February, he increased his revenues by 20% to $ 2.9 billion.
" Open source has long been a vector of innovation, it becomes a vector of growth "Says Philippe Montargès, co-chairman of the National Council of Free Software (organizer of the Paris Open Source Summit, November 5-6) and president of Alterway, a French SME of free software.
IBM expands its hybrid cloud offering
Exceeded by Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, Google and Alibaba in the buoyant market of remote computing, IBM pays Red Hat relatively expensive in the eyes of badysts. But he is counting on him to expand his offer to companies. These now often make the choice to switch some of their machines in this type of cloud computing systems while maintaining the control of other computers.
Red Hat has been able to anticipate this "hybrid cloud" trend. " We still have a long track record of innovation and billions of dollars of opportunities for Said in mid-September at "Echoes", the CEO of Red Hat, James Whitehurst.
By resuming Openstack cloud technology and computer-based containers – true cornerstones of modern computing, popularized by Amazon and Google, which rely heavily on open source to grow quickly – Red Hat has followed suit. the migration from digital to open source.
" Today, no IT director can do without open source Says James Whitehurst, declaiming his pbadion for free software. For the sake of savings and to treat their employers' brands with the best developers, traditional companies no longer hesitate to buy "free".
A concentration between Americans
Even Microsoft has taken the fold of open source. Succeeding Steve Ballmer as CEO in 2014, Satya Nadella has asked its employees to make Azure, Microsoft's online server offering compatible with Linux systems. It had been years since the Redmont company preferred its Windows operating system.
Microsoft has also bought the Github source code hosting platform for $ 7.5 billion last June. Another American-American operation that raises questions for Philippe Montargès: " Open source has won but this movement of concentration does not benefit the European ecosystem. "
Florian Dèbes
Source link
