Note: In June 2007, we introduced readers to a new open source software (OSS) firm—Apatar— that debuted at Red Herring East, which is a traditional venue to get a company story in front of movers and shakers in the venture capital world. Apatar brought to market what it calls “Enterprise Data Mashups,” which are data integration software tools. The development model is OSS. The company is interested in getting its community to extend the product but also lets it play with the core code. What Apatar wants most from its community is to add to the already over 300 pre-existing metadata maps and mashups it has in its library. The Apatar distribution model includes a free download of a desktop application and a software as a service (SaaS) offering. The target market is the millions of data integration projects that never get done because the return on investment is too low (or negative) using more traditional extract/transform/load and integration software. In this guest editorial, Alex Khizhnyak—Chief Apatar Evangelist and Chairman of Belarus Java User Group—tells ebizQ readers how to get started in the mash-up business.

Despite what many people tend to think, mashups are not just grabbing someone’s Web content. A well-made mashup is actually a brand new information resource, which is unique, genuine, and represents a greater value than its single components. If the mashup fails to meet the above-mentioned conditions, one can write it off as a dustbin full of informational garbage. Users are willing to pay only for those mashups that are of some value either for business or fun. In other words, the resource is worth considering when the idea of a certain mashup, the idea to combine these very components, makes sense. Nobody is interested in a mashup that transforms a number of useful Web sites into a huge useless mess.

You may ask why business users, together with venture capitalists, should consider mashups and invest their efforts into studying this phenomenon. The answer is behind the numbers. According to McKinsey & Company, the global management consulting agency, 21 percent of organizations are planning to use mashup applications as part of their IT infrastructure (2007). That means every fifth company in the world is going to adopt business mashups in the near future. And it’s a big deal, isn’t it?