Feedster is different in another way: It bought a support contract with MySQL AB for its open-source database, a move that many small, tech-savvy businesses aren't willing to make. The InformationWeek Research and Optaros study found that only 8% of small and midsize open-source users are likely to use packaged open-source products that include a support contract.
"Whenever you push the outer limits of any system, you're going to have problems," Johnson says. Because the database is a core part of Feedster's business, Johnson says a service contract is cheap insurance, although he won't disclose what he's paying for the contract.
Community Support
Yellow Online, which has 50 employees, doesn't have a support contract for its MySQL database. Instead, Yellow Online's five-person IT staff relies on other MySQL users via the open-source community. "We're really tuned into the online community and don't need an organization to provide support," Zomorrodi says.
Yellow Online runs its Web site, domain name system, and load-balancing servers on 20 Red Hat Linux servers, though the company doesn't have a support contract with Red Hat, either. Zomorrodi says he's not looking to commercial open-source service and support providers because his staff has the in-house capability to support the technology.
Zomorrodi discovered open source in 2002 while he was pursuing an MBA degree at Queens University's Queens School of Business in Kingston, Ontario. In 2002, Yellow Online started moving its front-end Web programs that were written in PL/SQL on Oracle's Internet platform to JavaServer Pages. This made the applications portable and independent of a specific product or vendor. Then the company deployed the applications to the open-source Tomcat app server.
By The Numbers
Like Yellow Online, Independence Air Inc. arose as a new model for doing business in its industry and relies heavily on IT to make it a nimble player. The startup, which had previously operated as a regional airline called Atlantic Coast Airlines and provided service as part of the Delta Connection and United Express programs, took its first solo flight in June 2004, not a great time to launch an airline. "The airline industry is really brutal," IT director Chris Hewes says. "The profit margins are very thin or, in our case, nonexistent." The company reported a loss of $192.2 million on revenue of $500.1 million in 2004.
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