Wednesday 25 February 2009

New open source ECM 'appliance' released - updated

Alfresco the open source ECM platform vendor has joined forces with Ingres the open source database vendor to release an 'ECM software appliance' called Icebreaker ECM.

The original Ingres Icebreaker database appliance was released some time ago. It is a cut down version of Linux which includes a base system required to run the Ingres RDBMS on top of it, all packed together in a single easily installable ISO disc image.

So having joined forces with Alfresco, we now have a 570mb downloadable ISO image, providing a complete stack of Linux server, Ingres RDBMS and Alfresco ECMS.

The big question is, how easy will it really be to install and configure ? I will let you know when I get round to buying VMWare or something so I can build a virtual machine to run it in..... :-)

However, I really like the concept, this is the ultimate in try before you buy, which of course is a major benefit of open source software in any arena. Don't worry though, if your CIO or IT Director is 'old Skool' I am sure Alfresco and Ingres will charge you a refreshingly 'enteprise like' amount for support services !

Interstingly they are pitching this easy to instal, easy to manage stack as an open source alternative to Microsofts Sharepoint (MOSS 2007) platform; You can read the press releases here:

Ingres press release

Interestingly I could not find a press release on the Alfresco site yet.

So, it will be good to watch the wider blogosphere / ECM community response to this one, and I am looking for to a 'blow by blow' installation review by someone who has a little more time available than I do at the moment (hint hint....)

UPDATE:

See Alan Pelz-Sharpe's viewpoint on IceBreaker ECM over at CMSWatch

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