Open-source companies to watch

Company name: Pleyo

Founded: April 2006

Location: Montpellier, France

What does the company offer? OWB, an open-source Web browser designed for mobile phones, portable media players, set top boxes and other consumer electronic products. Pleyo released OWB in July and plans more Web services for consumer electronics.

Why is it worth watching? Pleyo hasn't launched publicly yet, but says it has developed "reference implementations" of its Web browser on cell phones, high-end mobile devices like the Nokia N800, stand-alone media centers and a television.

How did the company get its start? With the introduction of the iPhone, the founders say the market for Web-based solutions on consumer devices is quickly maturing and that Web 2.0 technologies should be more widely available on these products.

How did the company get its name? Pleyo is a variation on the word "play," for entertainment, and the "o" is supposed to resemble a video screen.

CEO and background: Joel Reboul was founder and CEO of eProcess, a software editor for consumer electrics devices, which merged with Teamlog-DMS to become Iwedia.

Funding: Currently self-funded. The first round of external funding is expected in the fourth quarter.

Who's using the product? The browser has been downloaded 544 times, mostly by research and development departments from various industries, according to Pleyo.

Company name: Talend

Founded: August 2005. The vendor's first product came out in October 2006.

Location: Suresnes, France, with additional offices in California

What does the company offer? A data-integration platform known as Open Studio, and a software-as-a-service offering called Talend On Demand.

Why is it worth watching? Talend is jumping on two of the hot software trends in open-source and software as a service. Customers looking to save money should feel safe going to an open-source vendor because data-integration products tend to be similar in terms of functionality, Forrester analyst Michael Goulde has said.