In a world of corporate espionage, patented genetics, and non-disclosure agreements, the ongoing trend of openness in the computing industry comes as a breath of fresh air.Open source software, freely available to everyone, forms the backbone of the Internet; your phone, whether it’s iOS or Android, runs on a largely open source operating system; and, over the last five years, the world of cloud computing has become overwhelmingly open as well.

If you are a Software provider, you know that your underlying infrastructure will play a material role in your end user experience and differentiate your platform from that of your competitors.  Let’s face it, competition isn’t as traditional as it once was, virtual environments continue to change the landscape, offering efficiencies in both a capital and operational expenditures.  In a world of doing more with less, software as a service (SaaS) providers will be an industry tipping point.