Ok, this blog entry isn’t about Ubuntu. But it does focus on revenue opportunities in the open source market. Sure, Red Hat is the rare open source company that has launched a successful IPO and generated healthy profits. But at least two other open source software companies are on my radar for eventual IPOs.
First up, MySQL — the open source database provider — continues to mull a possible IPO, with company watchers expecting news either late this year or in 2008. Longer term, SugarCRM — an open source application provider — is showing momentum. Cash flow is now positive at the company, annual revenue is on target for $15 million this year (according to Reuters) and company insiders are charting a course to $100 million in annual revenue, according to The VAR Guy, a mystery peer who blogs over at TechIQ magazine.
So, yes indeed: There’s money in open source.
