TechTracker Media Creates a New Channel for a Rising Market

TechTracker Media (TTM) announced today the availability of its "Enterprise Open Source Channel," a marketing channel created in response to the increasing market growth of open source. TTM is an information technology (IT) vertical ad network that allows companies to direct their advertisements, and market their products and services, to specific audiences through targeted content channels. Previously, each company working in open source had to build a database of content themselves, but now, according to Scott Alperin, TTM's senior manager of marketing and business development, they are finding that they can specialize according to their needs without starting from scratch. He adds, "The Enterprise Open Source Channel allows users to learn about certain tools and services and it's a place for vendors to share the technology they have." Currently, TTM has more than 20 million different users per month, all connected to communities that serve specific interests. Some of the corporations involved in the Enterprise Open Source Channel are The O'Reilly Network, LinuxDevCenter, ONLamp, and XML. As Andrew Odewahn of The O'Reilly Network said in a statement. the Channel "will give companies the opportunity to more easily connect with the high-quality, high-value audiences sites like ours attract." Unlike proprietary software, such as Microsoft Office, open-source software provides users with the software's source code, which allows them to make modifications and additions to the program and then distribute it to others. Open-source models of operation allow IT decision-makers to cater the program to the needs of their individual corporations. It is preferred primarily because of this freedom and because the software can be obtained at no, or at much lower, cost compared to proprietary software. Matthew Lawton, program director of IDC's Open Source Software Business Models research program, comments that although standalone open source software is "still quite immature," it is in a "significant growth stage." In 2006, standalone open-source software reached $1.8 billion in revenues worldwide, according to the study "Open Source Software Business Models 2007-2011 Forecast: A Preliminary View" by Lawton and Robert Notarfonzo. The study projects that revenues will notch a compound annual growth rate of 26 percent, rising to $5.8 billion by 2011. Related articles: Who's Who in Open Source? Sugar's Expanding Knowledge Base Is Sweet Custom Fits