Technology viability

Viability is a measure of how long a technical component is likely to meet your needs before it becomes obsolete.

All technology tends to get out of date and needs to be upgrade from time-to-time. The technology becomes obsolete when it no longer works with the technology around it and can not easily be upgraded.

Viability partly depends on how easy and cheap it is to upgrade to the latest versions. It is hard to keep up with latest versions if new versions are incompatible, or if the supplier charges additional license fees for the new versions.

The main factors affecting viability are:

• Supplier size. Large, well-established suppliers and major open source projects have the resources to keep products up-to-date.
• User base. Products with a large user base are likely to remain viable.
• Competitive pressures. Many technically good products have failed because they have been outcompeted.
• Use of established industry standards. If products use established industry standards, then it is relatively easy to replace them with other products.

Management tips

• Put a high priority on selecting technology that is likely to be around for many years. This is more important than elegant design or extra bells and whistles.
• Examine suppliers' track records on ease of upgrades. Some of the largest suppliers have the worst track records on ease of upgrade. Many open source projects release frequent small upgrades, which makes it relatively easy to keep up-to-date.
• Look for products that follow established industry standards. Make sure you keep to the standards and do not use proprietary extensions.
• If you need to select a niche product that may not be viable for the long term, consider and manage the risks.
• Remember that viability is as much about your management of the technology. If you do not keep up-to-date with versions, or if you use proprietary extensions, the product will become obsolete faster.