We are currently evaluating various Enterprise Open Source software soluions. Every host out there seems to be jumping on the Exchange/SharePoint wagon as the be all end all Software as a Service (SaaS) hosting solution. BlueFur.com is going to take a different approach. We are going to look into the other Open Source solutions that can run on Linux and then pass those savings on to businesses.
Some of the software we are currently testing are…
Coloboration/Groupware Solutions
- Open-Xchange
- Zimbra
- WordPress and WordPress MU
- Trac
Customer Relationship Management
- SugarCRM
- XRMS
- vtiger
Content Management Solutions
- Joomla
- Drupal
- Mambo
Enterprise Resource Planning
- webERP
- ERP5
eLearning
- Moodle
Streaming Content
- Shoutcast
- Icecast
Once we have these tested these solutions we will be adding it to our site with more details. All of these will be run on managed dedicated servers. They will include free install and upgrades to the software.
What do you think? If you have any feedback or suggestions let us know.
krillz
October 8, 2007 1:40 pm
I won’t deny it, open source solution are getting hotter and hotter each day that passes. Recently more big names and even entire nations have jumped on this superb wagon. I seriously think you should consider using open source, if you’re not sure just make a quick research among your costumers today to get a feeling whether the demand is there or not.
But as I’ve understood it you already are aiming on adapting them so good for you!
By using these solution I seriously think you could cut down on the power consumption and costs to operate it, making the hosting fees cheaper which in turn should increase the demand of your services.
A lot of countries/areas have chosen open source systems / programs over the ones that cost lately, just recently Russia is switching their operating systems to Linux instead of windows also their agencies dealing with confidential information is likely to switch to mandriva Linux. As I see it windows will soon get serious competition so it’s time to check what works best for you.
Collin
October 8, 2007 6:17 pm
The one thing I have never had to worry about being with bluefur is the lack of a company looking out for there clients. I really wish Bluefur had a button I could display on my site for free to help promote such a great host.
Sean Tierney
October 9, 2007 11:57 am
fyi: you can try out 7 of those apps you listed using the corresponding JumpBoxes->
http://www.jumpbox.com/product
It costs nothing and you can shave off hours of the evaluation process by avoiding the install process for each.
sean
blogadmin
October 9, 2007 12:18 pm
Sean that is an interesting service.
We have already tested all those one’s already. Were working on the hard one’s now.
Does the products installed locally display online or just via localhost?
Sean Tierney
October 9, 2007 12:40 pm
The jumpbox.com site itself is a Drupal JumpBox so, yes, they are production-ready and can run on a domain accessible via the internet (though they were originally intended to be served to an internal network). We’re looking at creating provisioning tools for ISP’s so they can offer hosted JumpBoxes to their customers. Because it’s a true virtual appliance, the state can be dumped via our backup tool and restored into a new instance. The net result is that a user can download say a Joomla JumpBox, build out their site locally and then transfer the data into a hosted version at their ISP.
sean
blogadmin
October 9, 2007 12:47 pm
If there are any details on how hosts or ISP can get involved let me know. It is definately an interesting model.
Matt
October 9, 2007 7:31 pm
BlueFur’s Affiliate program has some nice banners… You could always just use them without the affiliate link. :P
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