A clearinghouse for software components is trying to boost the amount of reuse within enterprises by launching a service to create private component marketplaces.
ComponentSource Inc., which has a public marketplace of 6,500 components written in various languages, last week announced ComponentSource ERS (Enterprise Reuse Solution) to help enterprise customers supply, manage and use components.
Officials with the Kennesaw, Ga., company said that creating a private marketplace for an enterprise or consortium can boost awareness and use of software components, ranging from Enterprise JavaBeans to newly emerging .Net components from Microsoft Corp.
Steve Heidt, president of information solutions delivery for Europe, the Middle East and Africa for Electronic Data Systems Corp., said the private exchange that ComponentSource built for EDS is helping him spread “the reuse religion” among the 10,000 developers and 17 solution centers in his region.
“We started trying to share and leverage [components] internally a few years back,” said Heidt, in Stockley Park, England. “I think this is a great thing and will help us accelerate that.”
The service, available now, includes access to the public marketplace and best practices. ComponentSource will build and host private component exchanges, supported by automated notifications of upgrades, reviews, ratings, white papers and capability for internal billing for components.
ERS, which was constructed using the .Net platform, also supports Extensible Markup Language-based Web services.
“There has been lots of news around repositories lately, but this is a true full solution,” said Sam Patterson, CEO of ComponentSource. “This is a very interactive concept for reuse.”
Pricing for the service depends on the extent of the deployment, but Patterson said that for enterprises that engage in reuse, “the savings gained can be enormous.”
Patterson said the private marketplaces are customized to incorporate the tools and development practices an enterprise is using already. The company also provides training.