Open source for open SOX
Lighthouse Global of Stamford, Connecticut is taking advantage of the trend with an open source E-Trail Digital Archive tool. By giving customers access to the source code, "you can use other components out there, to lower the cost of deployment," said CTO Arthur Riel.
Open source in this case is not the same thing as free. " It can be a turnkey enterprise license at $8,000, with 17% maintenance fee after the first year for up to 500 people. Then we discount as it goes up from there."
With hedge funds, which can have fewer than 100 employees, now under the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) radar, Riel thinks the benefits of this open source approach will just grow. "There are at least 1,200 hedge funds," and some in the industry think it will grow 50% over the next year, then continue growing at double-digit rates.
"We're actually looking at packaging a useful subset of our functionality for companies like hedge funds, under 50 people, looking to bring this into their company. You'll have a self install and pricing under $2,000." If the government acts, this open source outfit could grow even faster.
Who says government is your enemy? Serve its interests and you can be its little friend. (Those without a sense of humor, please don't click that link.)