News | May 11, 2006

Alfresco Enterprise Edition Goes 100% Open Source; Alfresco Removes Closed Source Risk For Governments And Major Corporations

Source: Rivet Logic Corporation

Alfresco Software Inc., the first provider of an open source enterprise content management solution, today announced that 100 percent of the Alfresco Enterprise Edition will be open source. Governments and non-profits turn to open source, in large part, to ensure their investments in technology are protected for long-term viability. The rapid success of Alfresco in becoming the open source enterprise content management system of choice has enabled the company to communicate with governments and corporations at a high-level on open source strategies. Now Alfresco meets their needs by making the source code of all product functionality freely available.

Across the board, from governments to major corporations and not-for-profits, organizations are updating their purchasing models to get the benefit of open source. The major drivers are cost and the use of an open architecture and standards. Major organizations such as these do not want to purchase extra functionality from "advanced editions" and then lose the flexibility to change strategy in the future and switch back to an unsupported open source model.

The model leading commercial open source companies are using is to offer the same functionality across all product lines. This gives the customer the option of purchasing, not extra functionality, but support, consulting, integration and training. This approach enables the customer to get the benefit of open source in the short-term--low-risk trial with easy access to source code, product details and roadmap--and also in the long-term by having the flexibility to stay with enterprise support or move to a community model with no loss of functionality and no code change requirements.

Alfresco offers two functionally similar product lines - Enterprise and Community. The Alfresco Enterprise Network offers:

  • Certified Stacks
  • Maintenance, Updates and Patch Support
  • Customer Support - Problem Resolution, Compatibility and Migration Advice
  • Customer Portal - Information, Bug Tracking and Case Tracking
  • Performance Tuning Advice
  • Indemnity and Warranty
"Alfresco has been downloaded more than 200,000 times and is used, for example, by leading governments, military departments, telecommunications companies, banks and not-for-profit organizations," said John Powell, CEO Alfresco. "Governments and major corporations see open source as a long-term strategy. Our approach gives the customer the benefit and flexibility for both the short and long-term."

About Alfresco Software Inc.
Alfresco is the leading open source alternative for enterprise content management. It is the first company to bring the power of open source to the enterprise content management market, enabling unprecedented scale and a much lower total cost of ownership than proprietary systems. Founded by a team of content management veterans that includes the co-founder of Documentum, John Newton and former COO of Business Objects, John Powell. Alfresco is based in London. For more information, visit www.alfresco.com.