Until recently, most enterprise Open Source Software (OSS) projects have aimed to commoditize a well-established type of software, such as an operating system, application server, database management system or graphical development tool.

As the industry begins to widely adopt Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) and OSGi, however, open source projects are starting to address software types that aren't as well established. The SOA and OSGi infrastructure market is relatively new, and software types in this umbrella category don't yet have a single, common definition.

Open source is appropriate for OSGi infrastructure because OSGi infrastructure represents a layer of abstraction over existing Java runtimes, allowing new and existing applications to work well together.

ProSyst believes that the age of the fully closed source environment is coming to an end as more and more of today's companies are deploying a blend of open source and closed source elements within their products and IT environments. The question many companies are asking is how to determine the appropriate balance of open and closed source elements.

As open source solutions began to deliver measurable value, and feature parity with similar closed source offering became a reality, adoption of open source products increased. This adoption accelerated when companies began to offer indemnification to protect users from patent litigation, and more importantly, offered comprehensive service and support packages for widely available open source solutions.

Today, ProSyst is seeing a mixture of open source and closed source elements in many products and organizations. These mixed environments typically reduce license costs and provide organizations with more control over software development and direction. Companies are now challenged with determining the appropriate levels of closed source and open source software to use. ProSyst offers "best of both worlds".

The appetite for open source software in the enterprise is strong, as long as there is quality support, a strong community and domain expertise associated with the open source project(s). This understanding, coupled with the fact that ProSyst believes the future of technology usage will be a mix of open source and closed source products and services, has driven ProSyst to expand its commitment to open source software projects.

As part of this commitment ProSyst is providing a complete set of services, support and training to make deploying open source a real option. Additionally, ProSyst offers the following Open Source OSGi related products:

• An Eclipse Equinox OSGi distribution (» mBedded Server Equinox Edition), that embedds the Equinox Open Source implementation into a compelling package including additional OSGi Service implementations, documentation, development tools and demos.
• An optimized eRCP implementation that runs on both frameworks, the Equinox Edition as well as on ProSyst's market leading mBedded Server Professional Edition, granting a maximum of flexibility and performance to your applications.
• A remote management server (ProSyst » mPower Remote Manager) for OSGi and (e)RCP applications or devices, leveraging the true power of SOA.

ProSyst's heritage in OSGi infrastructure, commitment to open standards, brand as an innovative software provider, and reputation for delivering world-class embedded Java support, positions ProSyst as the right company to work with when looking at OSGi.