Open Source

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Open Source the 21st Century Land Grant
University Exploring Open Source
Collaborations2008 ACM Management Symposium
April 7, 2008

• Curt Pederson
• Vice Provost for Information Services and CIO,
  Oregon State University Oregon University
  System
  
• E-mail curt.pederson_at_oregonstate.edu

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Open Source Software

• According to Wikipedia, it is computer software
  that is available with its source code under an
  open-source license that allows it to be studied,
  changed and improved in its design.
• In 1998 free software was relabeled open
  source which resulted in it becoming more
  mainstream in the corporate world.
  

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Information Services _at_ OSU

• We provide IT services to Oregon State University
  (OSU) and the Oregon University System (OUS)
  
• In addition to central campus IT services _at_ OSU,
  we provide Banner ERP services to four regional
  universities and support to the Chancellors
  office
• CIO reports to the OSU Provost and is also
  accountable to the OSU President and the OUS
  Chancellor
  
• Our commitment to Open Source starts with
  enlightened leadership

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Our commitment to the development and
application of Open Source is consistent with our
drive to be the land grant university of the 21st
century. Through open source activities we are
helping under-served populations around the world
and creating new industries and new products at
home. Ed Ray, OSU President
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Cover of Presidents Annual Report One Laptop Per
Child
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Making an Impact on Children Around the World

• I like to point to the success of our students
  as one of OSUs most important contributions to
  the future.

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Growing Visibility and Acceptance of Open Source

• One of the ten forces that flattened the world
  (Thomas Friedman)
  
• OSU helped start an Open Source software
  tsunami in Oregon
  
• Growing global open eco-system
• Like Minded Community Collaboration Open
  Source Innovation
  

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Open Source Past

• Caffeinated hackers developing software, on
  shoestring budgets, and hosted on questionable
  infrastructure
  
• Question, can we help create sustainable hosting
  infrastructure for free software?
  
• What would a new business model look like?

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Open Source Today

• Open Source still produced by many of the worlds
  best caffeinated minds
  
• Most Open Source software now holds up well
  against commercial alternatives
  
• Proprietary desktop software can double the cost
  of your purchase
  
• Provides affordable alternatives and innovation
  to emerging economies

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Oregons Open Source Eco-System

• Governor Legislature get it
• Linus Torvalds lives here
• OSUs Open Source Lab
• Open Technology Business Center
• Intels Open Source Center
• IBMs Linux Technology Center

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Oregons Open Source Cluster Creates Economic
Value

• Established companies like Google now have major
  presence in Oregon
  
• New Open Source based startups emerging (JanRain,
  Jive, Collaborative Software Initiative)
  
• Significant opportunities emerging for government
  and health care applications

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Oregon Is Home to Two World Class Conferences

• OReilly Open Source Conference (OSCON)
• http//en.oreilly.com/oscon2008/public/content/ho
  me
  
• Government Open Source Conference (GOSCON)
  www.goscon.org/
  
• Our open culture differentiates us from the
  neighboring states of WA OR

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Internal ROI _at_ OSU

• Provided 500,000 in OSL start-up (EG)
• ROI of 400 to OSU in 18 months
• Nutch vs. Google Search Appliance
• Drupal CMS vs. Commercial Software
• We rely on gifts/grants/contracts in support of
  the open source community
  
• Gifts Google, RealNetworks, IBM, HP

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The Birth of anOpen Source Lab

• Five years ago we started the OSL_at_OSU Visit
  http//osuosl.org
  
• Housed at Oregon State University in Corvallis,
  Oregon
  
• Interest in open source, excess bandwidth and
  extra data center space
  
• We hosted one project and started getting calls
  from other struggling projects

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Open Source Lab Today

• We host, develop and distribute open source
  software (1 mm daily downloads)
  
• 20 staff 8 full-time 12 CS students
• We provide platform stability for many of the
  largest community based Open Source applications
  in the world
  
• Host over 50 projects 140 servers (Apache,
  OLPC, Linux, Drupal, Open Office)

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Looking Into The OSL
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Less Tangible Benefits

• Joy to the open source community
• Educational and research opportunities
• Ability to attract students, companies and
  highly skilled knowledge workers
  
• We provide value to government, education and
  non-profit sectors

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The Holy Grail

• Linus Torvalds master Linux kernel
  (kernel.org) moved to the OSL in 2005
  
• Flown on chartered plane to Corvallis Airport and
  installed in the lab
  
• It was a day like no other and none since
• We had finally arrived

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600 Megabits of Free Bandwidth

• 600 megs of donated bandwidth - 5 yrs
• TDS Telecommunications donated 300 mbs to Atlanta
  and Chicago
  
• Worth at least 2 million
• If download not allowed on our iN2 circuit, we
  use TDS circuits

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In Support of Teaching Research Outreach?

• Outreach was easy, but
• We were challenged to connect the OSL to the
  academic mission
  
• We encouraged our student employees to push OS
  computer science curriculum

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The Birth of a LUG

• OSL student employees started a Linux Users Group
  (LUG)
  
• Student outreach and technical instruction
• Student driven group of around 40
• Visit http//lug.oregonstate.edu

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Interest In Open Source Extends Well Beyond Our
Students
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How Did Our Students Celebrate 200 Million
Releases of Firefox?
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Birth of the Open Source Education Lab (OSEL)

• Start-up funded by student tech fees
• Exists to bring faculty students into the Open
  Source world
  
• Over a dozen classes in two colleges now
  incorporating Open Source curriculum
  
• Visit http//osel.oregonstate.edu

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How Did We Create Value From Open Source?

• Visiting Microsoft Senior Vice Pres
• free and perfect software why didnt Bill
  Gates think of that?
  
• We needed a new funding model and paradigm
  (Rackathon, sponsorship, gifts)
  
• OSL relies 100 on outside grants, gifts and
  contracts
  

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What Is Next?

• Expand number of projects supported
• Explore the creation of a virtual K-12 Open
  Source academy
  
• Expand and improve our government open source
  conference GOSCON
  
• Major health care opportunity Eclipse
  Foundation Open Health Tools
  

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Open Health Tools (OHT)

• Collaborative of standards organizations,
  academia, National health systems, open source
  community, vendors, and IT professionals
  
• Build open source software frameworks for
  interoperable healthcare systems
  
• Allow patients and providers to have information
  access anywhere/anytime

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A Health Interoperability Framework?

• Platform that provides interoperability with
  standard open interfaces and a set of reusable
  software component that can be assembled into
  systems and products
• All software must be interoperable/free
• Goal to foster mass adoption by the healthcare
  industry

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OHT Partners

• National E-Health Authority Australia
• Canada Health Infoway
• National Health Service UK
• Indian Health Service US
• Veterans Health Administration US
• 14 Vendors (IBM, Oracle, Red Hat, Eclipse)
• 4 Medical Standards Organizations
• Academia/Research National Cancer Institute and
  Oregon State University - OSL
  

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Benefits of OHT

• Available to any hospital, company or individual
  whether a member or not
  
• Will help contain rapid growth costs
• Potential to save lives improve quality and
  safety of care to across the globe
  
• Potential savings of 77.8 billion dollars in the
  U.S. alone from exchange and interoperability of
  healthcare information

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Benefits of OHT to OSU/OSL

• Great opportunity for OSU the OSL
• First academic partner ask to join
• Opportunity for hosting, university research,
  scholarship and more
  
• Another opportunity for our students to help
  change the world
  
• More friends who can support the OSL

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Conclusions

• With modest seed funding, we leveraged open
  source to create new opportunities resources
  
• Through the OSL we have helped create a world
  that is more open, flat, and collaborative
  
• We have supported open models for other
  disciplines beyond software (i.e. Democracy Lab)