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Configuration Subverts Message of Collaboration


CollabNet must figure out how SourceForge fits into strategy

By Jennifer deJong
September 5, 2007 — 
Time was, when CollabNet was all about, well, collaboration. The company sold software that made it easy for geographically distant teams to work together on development projects. That offering—CollabNet Enterprise Edition—hasn’t gone away, but it’s no longer at the heart of how the company positions itself. “CollabNet has tried on a bunch of different personae,” said Forrester analyst Carey Schwaber. “And they are not as focused on collaboration now.”

CollabNet’s most recent persona is that of a company that sells services and support for Subversion, the popular, open source software configuration management (SCM) tool, around which its collaboration offering is built. “We are doing for Subversion what Red Hat has done around Linux,” said CollabNet CEO Bill Portelli. CollabNet sells training and support services for large enterprises that use the open source offering. And it also provides migration services for those that want to move their source code from other SCM tools, such as Subversion’s open source predecessor CVS, or ClearCase from IBM Rational.

CollabNet is the primary sponsor of the Subversion project. The company also sells Cubit, an offering that lets development managers take advantage of a service-based test and build infrastructure, instead of having to set up their own servers to manage the test and build process.

A Good Thing
Further clouding the clarity of CollabNet’s message is the company’s April 2007 acquisition of VA Software’s SourceForge Enterprise Edition business. “It’s a good thing that they combined because the [two collaboration software offerings] were in a feature war with each other, and they are [almost] interchangeable,” said Schwaber. “There is very little difference between the two products.”

Asked how the SourceForge Enterprise Edition differs from CollabNet Enterprise Edition, Portelli said: “SourceForge is essentially the on-site piece. CollabNet is the on-demand piece.” On-site and on-demand refer to the typical (on-site) software licensing model and the hosted (on-demand) software-as-a-service approach to delivering software.

CollabNet sells both offerings today, and expects to release a combined version in the first quarter of 2008. Like CollabNet Enterprise Edition, the combined offering will be sold as a service, as well as through the traditional licensing model.

SourceForge community manager Ross Turk said CollabNet’s acquisition of SourceForge Enterprise Edition is enabling the company to concentrate on SourceForge.net, its advertising-supported Web site for hosting open source development projects. “We used to be a media company with a software asset. Now we have a better focus,” Turk said. SourceForge also operates the technology news Web site Slashdot, among other Web sites. VA Software changed its name to SourceForge Inc. in May 2007.

Schwaber said CollabNet’s decision to downplay the collaboration message is a good one. “It’s harder to drive that message now that other development tools also support collaboration among globally distributed teams.” She cited CodeGear’s JBuilder, and Jazz, IBM’s emerging collaboration offering, as examples. The Subversion message is taking hold, Schwaber believes, adding, “CollabNet is doing well financially. They are starting to get traction.”


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