In 1929 the Hungarian writer Frigyes Karinthy proposed the theory of six degrees of separation, which states that anyone on earth can be connected to any other person on the planet through no more than five other people. In his presentation, Marcel den Hartog states that the IT industry has only three degrees of separation to the end user.

The first and the most mature is storage, which includes database and database tools vendors. The second is middleware, where the application server and security vendors play. The final segment is the application layer.

Large companies want to save money and open source is a way to be more efficient. Any technology solution will encompass each part of this value chain, and with thousands of vendors the network of relationships is becoming more and more important. Open source vendors, particularly those in the storage and middleware segments, must take advantage of their network of technology partnerships in the value chain. Understanding the three layers will help a developer be more efficient. End users will then be able to find more flexible solutions at a lower price.