CATA press release

The key overall decision criteria in making strategic and architectural decisions were identified as, in order of priority: 1. Reliability, 2. Performance, 3. Price, 4. Security, 5. Interoperability. Open and other (COTS) source, were both ranked against those criteria in terms of overall strength:
Decision Criteria: High Medium Low

Decision Criteria	High	Medium	Low
1. Reliability	open	other
2. Performance	open	other
3. Price	open		other
4. Security	open	other
5. Interoperability	open	other

The biggest concerns and irritants with open and other (COTS) source were:

• Open #1 - Intellectual property concerns
  #2 - Time-consuming to research and assess
  
• Other #1 - Pricing and licensing costs and policies
  #2 - Security

Recommendations by respondents for other IT decision-makers included advice to:

• Assess total cost of ownership over a 3-5 year period (support, training, etc) and availability of skilled resources and support.
  
• Evaluate product maturity (some are not ready for prime time) and establish project specific criteria as well.
  
• Establish formal policies for use and development (understanding of licensing, organizational fit in terms of openness and sharing, clear policies and procedures).
  
• Don't under-estimate the change process, and make sure you have people with strong skills in open source.
  
• Don't under-estimate the opportunities of open source. Start to get in the game now.

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