Serena Acquisition Takes Aim at Microsoft Project -- Redmondmag.com

Serena Acquisition Takes Aim at Microsoft Project

By Jim Barthold
09/25/2008

Serena Software acquired Projity on Wednesday and is promoting that company's software as an open source alternative to Microsoft Project.

The acquisition adds two solutions to Serena's enterprise-grade project and portfolio management (PPM) product line. The solutions include Projity's OpenProj open source desktop management software and Project-ON-Demand, a subscription-based management platform delivered via software as a service.

OpenProj last year had more than 600,000 downloads in 142 countries, according to a Serena news release, demonstrating "considerable market opportunity for an open source alternative to commercial desktop management applications."

Project-ON-Demand is designed for small-to-medium businesses, enabling small group collaborations. It builds on the functionality of OpenProj to eliminate "the complexity of deploying Microsoft Project for large, geographically dispersed teams," the announcement added.

The two open source solutions will be integrated into Serena's Mariner PPM product next year. Projity's open source solutions are still currently available, but they are renamed as "Serena OpenProj" and "Serena Projects On Demand."

Integrated Serena-Projity solutions are expected to become available in the first quarter of 2009.

About the Author

Jim Barthold is a freelance writer based in Delanco, N.J. covering a variety of technology subjects.

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