software industry equals open standards
DESCRIPTION
I just held this presentation to a large delegation of Chinese IPR and standards experts. The venue was in Chancery Lane, at Wragge & Co in London.TRANSCRIPT
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Software Industry Equals Open StandardsTrond Arne Undheim, PhDDirector Standards Strategy and Policy EMEA
EU-China Project on the Protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR2)London, 5 December 2008.
Who are we to talk?
• 3,000+ products• 2,000+ patents• $3B in development expenditures this year• 20,000+ developers• 6,500 product support specialists• 300,000+ test scripts nightly• 6,500 customer-driven enhancements yearly • 30,000+ servers• 15,000 Partners• 300+ customer advisory boards
Why – of all companies – does Oracle advocate open standards?
EnterpriseEnterprise
ManufacturingManufacturingIndustriesIndustries
RetailRetail
CommsComms
BankingBanking
InsuranceInsurance
UtilitiesUtilities
OthersOthers
Applications
Diversified Enterprise Portfolio Across Industries
EnterpriseEnterprise
PerformancePerformanceManagementManagement
IdentityIdentityManagementManagement
ContentContentManagementManagement
MiddlewareMiddlewareManagementManagement
DatabaseDatabase
Systems Systems ManagementManagement
Technology
Leader In Key Markets
• Database• Data Warehousing• Database on Linux• Embedded Database• Middleware• Enterprise Portal• Application Server• Enterprise Performance
Management
• CRM• Human Capital Mgmt• Retail• Communications• Financial Services• Banking• Public Sector• Professional Services
“ENOUGH!”
Let’s do the math
Interoperability =
Open standards
Let’s do the math
Open standards+
Wide implementation=
Good Business
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“Opting for open standards is a very wise business
decision indeed”
Nelly KroesDG COMPETITION
The Benefits of Open Standards
Reduce costsEconomic growthMarket access
Market stabilityAvoid lock-inTransparency
New technologyBetter productsInnovate
Source: The Momentum of Open Standards - a Pragmatic Approach to Software InteroperabilityThe European Journal of ePractice, No.5, 2008 [http://www.epracticejournal.eu/document/5156]
To which certain industry players may ask
• Who• What • Why• Where• When?
Open Standards Enhance Innovation
• Who?– UC Berkeley economist Hal Varian in Information Rules.– European Commission funded FLOSSIMPACT study.– UC Berkeley sociologist Neil Fliegstein in Architecture of M.
• What?– Innovation is whatever action an organization values highly.
• Why?– Enables sustainable innovation on top of agreed platform.
• Where?– In every well-functioning market – supported by institutions.
• When?– Whenever standards create new business (PDF, ODF, XML).– The Internet itself is the best example (HTTP, TCP/IP).
Open Standards Avoid Lock-in
• Who?– Repeated attempts at platform monopoly.– All other software players work against this practice.
• What?– Collaborative interfaces between technologies.
• Why?– Unsustainable in the long run. Hurts markets. Unfair.
• Where?– Developed in 500+ consortia – W3C and Oasis.
• When?– Whenever competing standards are avoided.
Open Standards Reduce Costs
• Who?– Industry analysts like AMR, Forrester, Gartner, & IDC agree.– 1/3 of an average IT budget is spent on integration.
• What?– Standards drastically reduce integration costs.
• Why?– Business standards are unorganized. Too many, too
complex.• Where?
– Our acquisition of BEA systems – integrate, don’t shut down. – Oracle Fusion Middleware – connecting technology pieces.
• When?– Whenever businesses must collaborate. All business should.
“WAIT!”
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“In the software business, creating, consolidating and promoting open standards is the best way to ensure interoperability“
Trond Arne Undheim, Ph.D.Oracle Corporation UK Ltd.
European Commission
European Parliament
Member States The Council
The European Standards Policy Environment
• Benchmarking• Best practice• Legislative initiative
• IMCO-committee• ITRE-committee
• 27 Member States• EU27+• Influence in Asia and
Latin-America
• Decision making• Regulations• Directives• Decisions
EU
THE
FUTURE
OF
BUSINESS
IS
OPEN
STANDARDS
Why Open Standards are important
• Enabling innovation (TCP/IP).• Avoiding lock-in (ODF).• Reducing costs (interoperable technology).
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“The Internet is fundamentally based on
the existence of open, non-proprietary standards.”
Vint CerfFather of the Internet
Disruption v. Collaboration
Contemporary Challenges
• Business
• Social web
• Cloud computing
• Semantic web
Contemporary Challenges
• Business – Core Components Technical Specification (CCTS)
(UN/CEFACT)
• Cloud computing– Few standards efforts so far
• Social web– Open Social (OpenSocial Foundation)
• Semantic web
Characteristics of Open Standards
The controversial EIF 1.0 (2004) definition:2. “Adopted and maintained via an open process in
which all interested parties can participate,3. Published and available freely or at a nominal
charge,4. For which the intellectual property – i.e. patents
covering (parts of) the standard – is made irrevocably available on a royalty free basis,
5. There are no constraints on the re-use of the standard”.Source: European Interoperability Framework, European Commission IDABC Programme.
The Openness Continuum
W3C OASIS ISO Open Social Single-vendor
ODF Flash OOXML DocX
Single vendor lock-in
Chinese government
Oracle
The Broken Way
SMEs
EU
Open Standards
Chinese government
Oracle
The Better Way
SMEs
EU
The Path Towards Openness
Adobe (PDF) PDF/A ISO (PDF) Implementations (PDF) imgres
European Standardization
• Legal base – Council Decision 87/95 (ICT standardisation in public sector).– Directive 98/34 (formally recognised standards organisations).
• European standards organizations (ESOs)– CENELEC (1959) – Electro-technical standards.– CEN (1961) – European pre-standards and standards in ICT.– ETSI (1988) – Telecom standards.
The Ideal Software Standards Ecosystem
Global
Royalty free Disclosed ex ante
• Healthy process
• Non-RF as the exception
• Certainty• Late disclosure as
the exception
• Wide implementation• Actual interoperability
Open
Transparent Patent Licensing
• Prevent IPR obstacles in software industry.– Prefer ex ante policy, so we can know the terms early.– If disclosure is not made, we favor default royalty free.– RAND is too vague, gives patent holders ex post leverage.
• Less burdensome rules for standards participation.– Standards participants are not lawyers. – All users should have de facto access.
• Ensure interoperability by open standards.
Conditions On The Ground
• Standards edging higher on government agendas– Interoperability Frameworks in many EU Member States.
• Denmark and The Netherlands leading the way. – EU considers standards reform
• Has 20 year old regulatory framework.• Cannot reference fora/consortia standards in legislation.
• Some actors resist change – European Standards Organizations (CEN/CENELEC) – National Standards Organizations (DIN, AFNOR, BSI)– Still selling standards. Need a new business model.
Conclusion
• Open standards are market-led activities– Governments must reference fora/consortia standards.– We must all help to simplify the standards environment. – We must try to prevent IPR obstacles by transparency.
• In software, ex ante disclosure is important. If not in place, default royalty free can ensure interoperability.
• Open standards must be widely implemented – usage means efficiency, effectiveness – for all actors.
THE FUTURE OF BUSINESS IS OPEN STANDARDSSee Trond’s Opening Standard http://blogs.oracle.com/trond