Interaction design and strategy company ZURB focuses on helping businesses create Web sites that get noticed and keep visitors. The company recently launched a tool called Notable, an interactive method for teams to use internally while building a Web site.

According to Lead Rails Engineer and company-appointed "Nerd Lead" Matt Kelly, the decision to use Web app framework Ruby on Rails to build Notable was really a no-brainer. "At ZURB, our designers work directly on the application code, rather then just throwing visual designs over the wall," he says. "Ruby on Rails code is very readable and was an obvious choice to keep our designers and engineers working as closely as possible. We did some prototyping in PHP but did not find a PHP framework that met our needs for Notable."

While there have been some questionable strategies playing out on Wall Street recently, and the Securities and Exchange Commission continues to scrutinize the legalities of a few high frequency trading techniques, former NYSE chairman William H. Donaldson's statement to New York Times holds true: if an individual investor can't keep up with larger brokerages, it's a major disadvantage.

Marketcetera feels that open source software is an ideal way for smaller brokerages to keep up with -- and perhaps outmaneuver -- their larger competition. Marketcetera CEO Graham Miller sees open source hosted/SaaS (software as a service) trading platforms as having particular potential for investors using high frequency trading methods. And Miller isn't the only one who believes this -- the evidence is vibrantly illustrated by Sky Road LLC's integration of Marketcetera's open source, automated trading platform into its SaaS financial services product line.

The financial services market is still a largely uncharted region for open source software. Sure, there are several Exchanges around the globe that use Linux to power their operations, but the minds, the people, and the currency that bring life to the trading floors don't operate solely on a patch of real estate in New York, London or Hong Kong. Marketcetera is one of the first open source software vendors to blaze a trail in this industry, with its open source trading platform catering to buy side and algorithmic trading.

Tackling a new market often necessitates a new way of thinking and looking at problems, but having experienced advisors onboard is still crucial to successfully navigate the unfamiliar territory -- for the insight they give, and the assurance their presence can instill in potential customers. This is only one of the reasons Marketcetera is welcoming Larry Stefonic to its advisory board. Stefonic is no stranger to the software industry, having co-founded the yaSSL project, an open source internet security suite, holding management positions at Centure Software, Raima Corporation and recently serving as the executive vice president of sales at MySQL AB.