Often, companies jump into open-source without doing their homework or IT workers download open-source applications and add them to corporate infrastructures without approvals or guidelines. "It just shows up," he said.

"What we're really trying to do is help them enterprisewide" by teaching ways of incorporating open-source applications while maintaining proper controls and responsibility for IT systems, Grandchamp said.

The JumpStart program will offer 90 days of support for up to 20 open-source projects included in the OpenLogic Enterprise stack and two days of training and consulting for the use and deployment of the trial stacks.

Michael Goulde, an analyst at Cambridge, Mass.-based Forrester Research Inc., said JumpStart comes at a time when many businesses are beginning to take a closer look at how they approach open-source software.

"A lot of large enterprises who are working with open-source in the context of their mainstream IT strategies are addressing the fact that they need policies in place," Goulde said. "Quite frankly, a lot of them need help."