Open source ECM

Yes, it's true, the open source enterprise content management system that seems to live to support just about any environment has added another server to the list. Alfresco (news, site) has announced that their Community Edition 3.2 can now be easily installed on Ubuntu Server Edition, free! Alfresco just released the Community Edition 3.2 earlier this month. The latest version of the community edition of their open source enterprise content management software also includes some updated records management capabilities, improved Forms, IMAP support and a nice solution for the iPhone.

Alfresco Software Inc., the leader in open source enterprise content management (ECM), and content storage software provider Caringo, Inc., recently introduced a combined solution for managing and storing content for billions of files and petabytes of data. Developed by XeniT, a partner of both companies, the Alfresco2CAStor connector is now available on Alfresco Forge, and Caringo is offering a free download of its CAStor content storage software for up to 4TB capacity. Tweet this: #Alfresco and Caringo introduce content management and storage solution, available for download now http://tinyurl.com/Alf2CAS CAStor's unique software approach creates high-performance and massively scalable clustered storage on standard x86 server hardware. This provides customers with affordable content storage that can start with one terabyte and scale seamlessly into Petabytes as your business grows. CAStor's built-in archive features ensure policy based retention and integrity to meet compliance mandates and guarantee accessibility well into the future.

Alfresco Software, the leader in open source enterprise content management (ECM), today announced the immediate availability for download of Alfresco Community Edition 3.2, unveiling a range of new features that continue to build on Alfresco's ability to deliver low-cost, innovative and interoperable open source ECM solutions. In addition to enabling mobile content management, streamlining email management and supporting open specifications and standards including CMIS and IMAP, Alfresco Community 3.2 also lays the groundwork for records management support for U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) 5015.2 certification in September 2009.

Open source enterprise content management vendor Alfresco really doesn't strike you as a vendor that likes to stay in the shadows. Quite the contrary actually. And the work they have been doing on CMIS — the Content Management Interoperability Specification — proves it. Their goal — and they aren't being subtle about it — is to the first Enterprise CMS that is fully CMIS compliant. There From the Beginning, Almost Although the first official announcement regarding the new proposed CMIS specification came from Microsoft, IBM and EMC, Alfresco was there almost from the beginning. And they have been the most vocal about what they have been doing to implement the proposed standard:

Alfresco is one of the most well known open source enterprise content management providers. With over 1.4 million downloads of their solution already and a number of marque clients for the Alfresco Enterprise, they should be happy to continue business as usual.But, as usual, they aren't. This week they have announced a partnership with ParaScale, a cloud storage software provider, to offer Alfresco "Content as a Service". The ParaScale PlatformIn enterprise deployments of ECM solutions, the traditional model is separate hardware for front-end and back-end (multiple this model based on usage requirements). It's the model that Alfresco would typically recommend to its clients.

Earlier this week, I blogged about ECM and Open Source -- and the different landscapes buyers will encounter in the Enterprise Content Management marketplace versus the Web Content Management marketplace. I think there's a similar paradigm when it comes to SaaS (Software as a Service). For web content management, there are a plethora of choices including the most significant players that we evaluate in our Web CMS research: CrownPeak, Clickability, and OmniUpdate.

It’s back again. Alfresco has released its 2008 Open Source Barometer and the results really should not surprise many. Enterprises like mixed technology environments that leverage Windows, Java, rich internet applications with AJAX and integrated Web 2.0 tools. We ran through the results with Alfresco CMO Ian Howells to get the scoop on the key findings and what they mean to Alfresco going forward.

Alfresco Software, creator of the open source Alfresco ECM system, has announced that Adobe Systems has implemented Alfresco’s ECM capabilities into the Acrobat.com website. The system will now maintain hundreds of thousands — if not millions — of documents that can be uploaded, shared, converted and collaborated. This marks a giant step forward for Alfresco and all of the open source development community.

After luring away several Interwoven staffers earlier this year, open source ECM vendor Alfresco has beta-released a long-awaited Web CMS module. I haven't seen it yet, but it will be interesting to see how a platform that is long on repository-oriented services will deal with the particularities of web publishing in general, and customer expectations for web site management in particular. If you end up using Alfresco for web content management, I'd love to hear how it turns out.

Alfresco is designed to be the open source alternative for enterprise content management. The open source model allows Alfresco to use best-of-breed open source technologies and contributions from the open source community to get higher quality software produced more quickly at much lower cost.

On 17/18 October I will be hosting (along with Theresa) some round table discussions at the London Documation event. It's an interesting event in that rather than a podium and an attentive audience, the format is round table discussions with panels of experts. Its a real chance to interact, learn, and frankly argue a bit! The theme of our discussions will be: Open Source as a viable alternative for ECM? The business case for ECM Large scale ECM deployments - lessons learned I particularly like these kind of events as they give us an opportunity to interact, and be challenged -- it's a two way conversation. All three of the topics we know are hot with ECM Report buyers - if you are going to be there, please do come along and take part, and also say hello. This is one of the better educational ECM events, so we hope you can make it.

IBM has announced the release of open-source infrastructure for combining text analytic tools called Unstructured Information Management Architecture, or "UIMA." As usual, Jon Udell has one of the better first takes. I'm going to write more about UIMA elsewhere, but right now I'll just argue that it will help put the discipline of text mining on the map. It also makes me think that we could use a similar framework for the ECM space: a core, open-source architecture for plugging in disparate vendor solutions to normalize task and content flow within specific applications. To start such an initiative, it would take a prominent company with a large professional services cadre....say, IBM?

Swansea Housing Association knew it needed a new system formanaging content. The Association develops and manages more than $200 million in property and real estate and works with planners, architects, and publicadministration officials. Swansea needed to find a better way to manage the increasingly overwhelming amount of new and existing documents, lower IT costs, and improve productivity. Submitted by Rivet Logic Corporation

The latest craze in content management — open source ECM software — is a product of the Internet era. Open source software is software whose source code is available under a license or arrangement such as public domain, that permits users to study, try, modify, and improve the software. Used with permission from Integrated Solutions magazine