Mike_gualtieri_formal01 I just spent the day at Progress Software’s annual analyst day. The highlight of the event is, always, to hear from their customers about how they are getting real things done. This year we heard from: EMC, Sallie Mae, TD Securities, Royal Dikzwager, BT Global Services, Lincoln Financial Group, Sabre Holdings, and Fiserv.

The theme: High velocity business demands high velocity technologies such as complex event processing, enterprise infrastructure, data infrastrcuture, and others.

But, this post is about Kenneth Rugg, VP and GM of Integration Infrastrcuture for Progress  Software, comments on open source software.

"I think about our use of open source software as a two-stage rocket"

Saturnvrocketlaunching Mr. Rugg explained that the open source version of software is the first stage that lifts the technology off the ground. The second-stage is when a vendor, such as Progress Software, adds secret technology sauce, support, and integration with other technology. His example was about what Progress has done with FUSE ESB.

I thought this was a useful way for customers to think about acquiring open source from vendors. Is the vendor moving the rocket to the next stage or instead weighing it down for an unhappy ending.