%0 Journal Article %J Open Source Business Resource %D 2011 %T Best Practices in Multi-Vendor Open Source Communities %A Ian Skerrett %X Multi-vendor open source communities enable companies to lower development costs and gain access to wider addressable markets. This article describes best practices for companies considering this approach. First, the different types of open source business strategies are examined along the types of participants that contribute to the communities that support them. Next, five best practices are detailed to show how companies can maximize their engagement with open source communities. Finally, the importance of foundations in implementing multi-vendor open source communities is discussed. %B Open Source Business Resource %I Talent First Network %C Ottawa %8 01/2011 %G eng %U http://timreview.ca/article/409 %N January 2011 %9 Articles %1 Eclipse Foundation Ian Skerrett is the Director of Marketing at the Eclipse Foundation, a not-for-profit corporation supporting the Eclipse open source community and commercial ecosystem. He is responsible for implementing programs that raise awareness of the Eclipse open source project and grow the overall Eclipse community. Ian has been working in the software industry for over 20 years. He has held a variety of product management and product marketing positions with Cognos, Object Technology International, IBM, Entrust, and Klocwork. He graduated from Carleton University with a Bachelor of Computer Science and has an MBA from McGill.