OStatic

There have been an ever increasing number of public organizations and private non-profits -- including medical institutions and educational facilities -- making the move to open source or hybrid open-proprietary software solutions.

Of course there are a number of compelling reasons for this trend beyond the frequently cited savings or escape from vendor lock-in. One of the reasons that the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine chose Bluenog to provide its content management system, web portal and business intelligence software was the flexibility that open source software offered in integrating with its legacy systems and infrastructure.

I recently got the opportunity to speak with the crew at Bluenog. Bluenog provides tailored integrated collaborative environments (ICE), content management portals and business intelligence solutions built on open source core technologies, offering a hybrid of open source and commercial features and support services.

With online collaboration becoming standard operating procedure, and the still delicate state of the economy, Bluenog, like other companies supplying and supporting open source software, has seen a heightened interest in its services. In particular, Bluenog has seen a growth in open source adoption (and commercial support services) in the higher education market.

Bluenog currently has three prominent clients in academia -- Wellesley, Columbia and NYU. I had a chance to ask the team at Bluenog about the challenges, special considerations, and the road ahead for open source companies in the higher education sector.