The enterprise edition of Alfresco Software’s content management application is now completely open source, as part of its effort to compete with commercial vendors, the company announced Tuesday.Portions of the two previous enterprise iterations were closed to customers, although the Community Network flavor of Alfresco has always been completely open source. The latest enterprise version, Alfresco 1.3, was announced at the JavaOne conference and the AIIM Expo. “We looked at other open-source business models, and 100 percent open source is the only way to go,” said John Newton, Alfresco’s co-founder and chief technology officer. Alfresco found customers would pay for support, advice and training. “The open-source model is build often, release often,” he said. “This is a radically different model from the commercial world, which likes to fine-tune things.” The user interface of Version 3.1 adds functionality to manage Web content such as wikis and blogs. Alfresco earmarked a portion of the US$8 million venture capital funding it received in February for adding Web content management abilities to its products. A release enhancing this function is slated for the third or fourth quarter, said Newton. The update also adds record management capabilities, with the goal of making Alfresco the first open-source product with such a use. The company hopes to earn U.S. government approval and intends to have “complete, full-blown” record management by year’s end, said Newton. Alfresco, based in London, competes with Microsoft’s SharePoint, Interwoven and EMC’s Documentum, among other vendors. Alfresco Enterprise Network 1.3 becomes available in late May. The enterprise offering for small businesses costs US$2,995 per year for 20 users, while the Enterprise Network software is $7,500 per CPU per year for unlimited users.The Alfresco Community Network 1.3 is a free download and available now.-Fred O’Connor, IDG News ServiceCheck out our CIO News Alerts and Tech Informer pages for more updated news coverage. Related content feature Key IT initiatives reshape the CIO agenda While cloud, cybersecurity, and analytics remain top of mind for IT leaders, a shift toward delivering business value is altering how CIOs approach key priorities, pushing transformative projects to the next phase. By Mary Pratt May 30, 2023 10 mins IT Strategy IT Leadership opinion Managing IT right starts with rightsizing IT for value While there are few universals when it comes to saying unambiguously what ‘managing IT right’ looks like, knowing how to navigate the limitless possibilities of IT is surely one. By Thornton May May 30, 2023 6 mins Digital Transformation IT Strategy IT Leadership brandpost Designing the campus of the future starts with high-quality 10Gbps connectivity By Huawei May 30, 2023 4 mins Network Architect Networking Devices Networking feature Red Hat embraces hybrid cloud for internal IT The maker of OpenShift has leveraged its own open container offering to migrate business-critical apps to AWS as part of a strategy to move beyond facilitating hybrid cloud for others and capitalize on the model for itself. By Paula Rooney May 29, 2023 5 mins CIO 100 Technology Industry Hybrid Cloud Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe