Open Technology banks
on growing acceptance of
‘open source’ software
Open source software — the kind that doesn’t come with licensing fees such as Linux, Apache and Samba — has gained enough acceptance to support a new Twin Cities business.
So believes Gregg Kloke (KLO-kee), who started Open Technology Systems a year ago in Chaska to serve small and mid-sized companies. He thinks his is the only local company so far offering outsourced IT services using only open source products.
Kloke was chief information officer at SimonDelivers.com, the Twin Cities grocery delivery service, and his four-year experience there got him thinking about the high cost of licensing software used by businesses.
“I’d write a $130,000 check to Microsoft. That was eye-opening to me,” Kloke says. “You pay an enormous amount of money for basic software.” He also believes that licensing fees charged by Microsoft are becoming “more confusing, not less.”
Kloke cites the stability of the open source platform, and the exploration of it by big corporations such as IBM — although he acknowledges that many companies stay away from it. “The product has matured, from a security standpoint and a scalability standpoint,” he says.
And he finally quit waiting for his SimonDelivers stock options to become valuable. “The stock options weren’t going anywhere.” He used personal savings and debt to start Open Technology Systems, which he figures will post $750,000 in revenue its second fiscal year and $2 million by year three or four.
Open Technology Systems’ first customer was Partners in Excellence, which provides services for children with autism. They have about 20 users, and had a “bailing wire” network, Kloke says. It cost about $1,500 for a server to run open source software, set-up fee was $1,000, then it’s $700 a month for Open Technology Systems to run the system.
Randy Olson, vice president of business development, says acceptance of open source software is growing so much that even Microsoft’s brass is taking notice. “We think the movement in the last year or two is gaining. Steve Ballmer is a little nervous,” Olson says.
Gregg Kloke, Open Technology Systems: 952.448.3121; gkloke@open-techsys.com; www.open-techsys.com
