Note: Open source doesn't mean free.
InformationWeek has an article SOA Goes Open Source
LogicBlaze has launched an integrated suite of open source code that's designed to get businesses started with service-oriented architecture. Called Fuse, it includes several pieces of open source code from the Apache Software Foundation, plus three from the Apache incubator. The claim that all the pieces have matured must take into consideration that incubator projects at Apache aren't yet full-fledged, open source projects; rather, they're getting an organization and community established around a core code donation.
elemental links has a good overview of the components in Fuse.
Open Source doesn't mean free - necessarily. In fact, Business Integration Technology (BIT) has identified six different open source business models (http://BusinessIntegrationTechnology.com/PDF/OpenSourceBusinessModels.pdf). But open source can _enable_ free. BIT has been working with pretty much the same open source stack for EME (http://businessintegrationtechnology.com/EME.html) as LogicBlaze uses in Fuse (and for a lot longer!), but we are essentially a consulting company and only charge for services rendered. So a company can make a business decision as to whether they want to implement and support the open source themselves, subscribe to an open source company's support, or use BIT as they see fit. That's really the way things should be. Companies should be able to choose what fits their needs rather than have a vendor dictate the business model.
Posted by: Fred Domke | May 19, 2006 at 12:49 PM