Gartner: Big Growth Ahead for Open Source BI

Open source gaining traction but not yet on par with commercial BI platforms

Information Management Online, Valerie Valentine

December 10, 2009 - IT research firm Gartner Inc. yesterday announced their report showing fivefold growth of the open source business intelligence market by 2012.

Gartner's report points out that open source BI is not just for cash-strapped organizations anymore. Mainstream deployment of open source for all kinds of BI usage shows it catching up with commercial platforms in terms of adoption but finds open source BI not yet on par with commercial functionality.

The average deal for an open source BI contract are approximately $30,000 for a yearly subscription, but some contracts are more than $500,000 for multiyear support subscriptions, the same as many commercial vendors. Commercial implementations are usually in the financial sector and telecommunications. Different vertical industries are pushing open source BI adoption, and it is being seen more often in midsized companies, as well as government, the public sector, health care and manufacturing.

The report - Open-Source Business Intelligence Tools Production Deployments Will Grow Five-Fold through 2012 is available from Gartner.