“Agile” software development is an increasingly popular development process for producing software in a flexible and iterative manner that can deliver value to the enterprise faster, reduce project risk and allow adaptation to changes more quickly.

Open source software components have characteristics that afford their use in agile processes because they are modular, component oriented and standards-based.

Open source software has associated licensing, management and security issues that need to be addressed so the enterprise can increase the velocity of agile development by reusing open source components.

This whitepaper explains the advantages of reusing open source components in projects implemented by agile development teams, discusses the issues and risks that must be managed and highlights the benefits organizations can receive by leveraging open source components.