The reasons are simple...

We all know the benefits of open source technologies, but it is people like Jayadevan who actually leverage those benefits. He shares, “There are a few reasons why open source technologies are our first choice. There is a commercial side to it – it definitely reduces the TCO, resulting in reduction of customers’ TCO as well. So it results in a win-win situation for us as well as for our customers. What is even more interesting is that the talent that is available is very comfortable with open source technologies. People who come from the universities have used open source tools extensively, and therefore getting the right talent becomes quite easy, unless we’re talking about some really unknown or specialised tool. People these days understand Linux. They understand Apache tools. So the availability of talent is such that we don’t have to struggle to train people on this domain. In addition, open source tools have a large community base. In fact, if you ask me, I am more comfortable with open source tools than the proprietary ones because with open source, I don’ have to worry about lock-ins. So there are multiple reasons why we are comfortable with open source technologies.”

Interestingly, Jayadevan got enough support from his management too. He states, “I faced no opposition from the management’s end. In many ways, we are a technology shop. The company is full of techies, who have a fondness for open source, so the road was clear there. I never really had to fight for open source with my senior management. We prefer open source, unless the customers say that they do not want open source and specify alternate technologies.”

Unlike many other players, the community doesn’t really matter much for Jayadevan’s team. He shares, “Well, the community factor is a not-so-important for us because most of our tools come from Red Hat and other such vendors. Vendors like these have a set of curated versions and they do a terrific job of supporting them. So, in that sense, we have had to go to the community very rarely to get a patch. Open source is sort of a compulsion for a company like ours, as we operate mainly in the developing markets. We operate largely in India and South East Asia. A big part of our revenue comes from Africa. These are all price-sensitive markets. We have never had a challenge with open source and that is a fact.”