The concept of establishing service orientated architectures has been with us for a number of years now. Providing an integration layer that allows legacy backend business systems to deliver data to a web enabled front end are recognised as a relatively low cost method of extending the life of a legacy environment.
As technology continues to advance the effort required to establish an integration layer between your legacy back end environment and modern web enabled front end functionality is reducing.
Open source technology is one of the key drivers in the cost reduction. While the words Open Source often create an association with budget constrained functionality the reality is far from it. Community developed and delivered Open Source functionality is often more stable, more feature rich and better maintained than the so called Enterprise or Proprietary solutions many web developers promote.
Koda specialise in the use of Open Source technologies in the delivery of our web solutions. The reasons for doing this are numerous however key drivers can be summarised as:
- Functionality that continues to evolve
- Quality is very good – with a community of developers supporting the code base, quality is maintained
- Cost is significantly lower than comparable Enterprise solutions
- There are no on going licenses associated with a true open source project, the customer owns the outcome
The underlying reason for many company's interest in an Enterprise or Proprietary solution rather than an open source product is the perceived stability and support associated with the latter. The drivers for this approach may be misguided, while it is true a large Enterprise solution may offer you a large support network (that comes at a price), the reality is that a custom developed solution built utilising Open Source technologies by a focussed skilled team is more likely to provide the robust solution your organisation is seeking.
By investing in a relationship with a company utilising open source products you are able to develop far more robust, cost effective solutions to your stakeholders.